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Sandbox blog

9/13/2024

We’re excited to reconnect and share updates on our ongoing initiatives. This summer our team has been travelling, collaborating with many of you, and recharging for a busy fall.

06/07/2024

Our Spring 2024 newsletter highlights conservation easements, Galway-Guatemala student travels, and conservation timber events in Nantes and Rotterdam.

11/28/2023

In today's rapidly changing world, the importance of environmental conservation through the involvement of a wide variety of actors cannot be overstated.

11/25/2023

This recap of 2023 includes Conservation Timber events in Mexico and Partner Forest updates from Italy, Copenhagen and the COP 28 workshop.

10/24/2023

Our collective need for rubber is enormous; from hospital gloves, to electrical safety gear, to the innumerable number of tires supporting global economies on a daily basis.

9/19/2023

When an architect or contractor is building a new community center or an apartment complex, there are many sourcing decisions to make, often in too little time. How can we assist in these being made in the best interests of the world’s climate and forests?

5/15/2023

When you picture a perfect morning, are the songbirds singing as the steam rises from your coffee? It’s a lovely image but an increasingly rare experience not only because many of us spend our mornings in the concrete jungle of cities but because conventional coffee growing is a major culprit in the global decline of migratory birds.

1/17/2023

How a new methodology helps cities lighten their tread on tropical forests, and invest in their future

29/11/2022

While city residents increasingly recognize the benefits of urban trees to reduce stress, sequester carbon, and clean and cool the air, the benefits of forests outside cities receive far less attention.

08/11/2022

Cities need to ensure that they are using materials that tread lightly on the planet and can be renewed. This points to a role for wood.

6/17/2022

Could The City of Light use its "world stage" to showcase the social and ecological benefits of a long-lasting, beautiful conservation timber from an African tropical forest?

6/22/2022

Strategy Games publication announcement ahead of Davos forum

5/25/2022

After months of design and planning to align materials, values, and vision, Turin’s Partner Forest launch event on April 8–10 in Precollinear Park was a great success.

5/19/2022

May 19 marks the first international World Tree Kangaroo Day, established by the UNDP in tandem with the government of Papua New Guinea and the Woodland Park Zoo’s Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program (TKCP).

4/6/2022

A well-designed bridge is a source of joy. The same bridge made of locally sourced sustainable wood – that’s a bridge on another level of inspiration.

3/31/2022

What if all coffee or timber sales directly funded communities that practice sustainable or restorative forest management?

3/25/2022

To our community members who love woodworking, trees, tropical forests and beaches, stop what you’re doing and pull out your bucket list.

11/21/2016

International leaders met to discuss wood as a link between development and conservation.

3/29/2016

A virtual company gets physical.

3/26/2016

Collaboration is vital to solving the world's most difficult problems. Can better collaboration be designed?

12/11/2015

Reporting from this year's historic events in France.

11/9/2015

A first-of-its-kind conference, and the formation of a world-changing community of practice.

9/26/2015

Structural engineer Justin Den Herder was the first volunteer in our Co-Build Kathmandu initiative.

8/28/2015

How Pilot Projects' Sarah Jane Wilson connected with the award-winning author over trees, culture, and Vancouver's hippie era.

7/28/2015

A perfect NYC Friday afternoon for aspiring engineers: A picnic, a little math, and some hands-on experimental construction.

7/20/2015

"We're tending now to confuse design with research. Designers need to more fully embrace their role as advocates and cultural leaders..."

6/26/2015

How we worked with one of the largest churches in Manhattan to make their new offices green, flexible, and beneficial to their culture

6/18/2015

"In terms of design problems, few spaces are more complex than the workplace."

6/12/2015

Some startups are innovating by bringing us back to basics.

5/15/2015

Our initiative to assess, restore, and rebuild in the Kathmandu Valley following two massive earthquakes

4/28/2015

A spontaneous trip becomes the surprise of a lifetime

4/23/2015

Could building a wall bring our team closer together?

4/13/2015

Pilot Projects' founder and director gets involved with University's NYC program debut

3/24/2015

There's a long way to go, but we're taking on a big challenge that's making us better designers. And the world is taking notice.

3/5/2015

Great minds seem to think alike when it comes to conservation.

2/23/2015

Is there is a paradoxical relationship between the "products" of innovation and the cultivation of an innovative mind?

2/17/2015

We're going back to Guatemala--this time to chart a forest's life like never before.

1/29/2015

Our recent design and collaboration workshop at the Ford Resource and Engagement Center was a hit.

1/21/2015

Scott responds to the "Google got it wrong" open office controversy.

1/13/2015

We're happy to report a new source of funding for our Green Hub project!

1/7/2015

Pilot Projects' founder and director on how anyone can get involved in their neighborhood's developments, and why they should.

12/10/2014

This year, we meditated on being at home at work, how we can make city streets safer, and life outside the metropolis.

11/5/2014

Sustainable hardwood is piloted in NYC zoos as the Brooklyn Bridge Forest project gains traction.

10/6/2014

A new video about our signature design tool, the Sandbox.

9/30/2014

A cagey Detroit seems intrigued by the prospect of participatory design.

9/3/2014

Pilot Projects creates a workshop for women in NYU's "STEM" program.

7/8/2014

News on three indoor redesigns, an outdoor streetscape, and special thanks to our team.

6/27/2014

Our Motor City project gains steam with some new help from partners.

6/25/2014

Cast Iron architecture in SoHo has long been a magnet for innovators, detractors, and enthusiasts.

6/20/2014

Scott sits down with the acclaimed architect and thinker for an inspiring conversation.

6/9/2014

Culturestructure Award: Motor City Detroit

4/25/2014

Join us for a free Jane's Walk next weekend!

4/10/2014

We pitch our Green Hub project to Buckminster Fuller and welcome three great new people.

3/31/2014

A sustainable to-go coffee cup for all of New York.

2/20/2014

Last night's Orchard Street Community Planning Workshop.

1/30/2014

What happens when we ask the question: is it possible to make a beautiful piece of furniture from a single plank of reclaimed wood from the Brooklyn Bridge Promenade?

10/22/2013

Join us Friday, Oct. 25 for our end-of-show party at the Bronx River Art Center. Expect food, drink, music, live performance, and great conversation. We hope to see you there!

10/16/2013

Pilot Projects was comissioned by the International Arts Movement to co-create a participatory dining experience for 200 guests.

My summer vacation: Three weeks in Toronto teaching high school students @ "Summer Design Lab"

5/10/2013

Can any New Yorker imagine a worse nightmare than being trapped in Penn Station.... forever? Well that's exactly what a "special application" from Madison Square Gardens asked for today in front of the NYC Planning Commission. Municipal Arts Society asked Pilot Projects to show up to the public meeting with a few words to say.

An escape from New York is a regular fantasy of mine, but one that's usually displaced by a thousand projects that seem to need constant attention -- “seem” being the operative word. This is much clearer after just returning to New York from Myanmar (Burma).

Yesterday found me doing some old fashion sleuth work, searching the streets of Gotham for another lost, buried or forgotten drinking fountains of the past century. Little did I know that this would land me at a lunch table with New York City Rescue Mission's Director of Community Relations Joe Little.

2/2/2013

Innovating for innovation in an unknown future. How should innovation respond to recent changes in social and economic contexts?

Pilot Project Foundation heads to central Burma to visity and document a small orphanage and school.

Pilot Projects typically has several residential projects on the go to keep our skills sharp and make sure we don't forget the small things!

First annual Culturestructure Award from Pilot Projects Foundation.

Pilot Projects is launching our blog with this (very small) challenge: We believe this shop in our neighborhood is the smallest piece of commercial real estate in NYC...

2/1/2010

Innovation is both a growing trend and a genuine necessity for the economy, society, environment, human health and national security. Innovation outputs appear prolific, and ongoing research continuously advances new strategies for innovation success.

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