Happenings - PIVOT Architecture

News 10/16

Nita Tjahjana, Certified Passive House Consultant

Congratulations to Designer Nita Tjahjana, PIVOT Architecture’s newly-certified passive house consultant!

In receiving the certification from the Passive House Institute US (PHIUS), a non-profit promoting high-performance passive buildings, Nita has honed her ability to design more sustainable facilities.

In the process of earning this certification, Nita learned the principles of passive building and trained using passive modeling techniques. Nita and PIVOT Designer Clay Neal, who is also passive house certified, use this knowledge to design more sustainable projects.

“I am just always curious about building technology and to learn more about the different metrics of how to make buildings more efficient,” Nita said. “It is one way of approaching sustainability and I have always liked when things are quantifiable.”

PHIUS+ provides design and construction standards ensuring sustainable quality assurance. Buildings meeting PHIUS+ standards use 40-60 percent less energy and provide high indoor air quality along with a quiet, comfortable environment.

Alison Kwok, an architecture professor at the UO, urged Nita to pursue certification with her systematic in approach to design.

News 04/08

Groundbreaking DDS Facility

PIVOT was excited to participate, golden shovel in hand, in the groundbreaking for Lane County’s new 26,000-SF Developmental Disabilities Services Facility.

The new building will be a welcoming and easy to navigate facility which will serve some of the most vulnerable people in our community.

Karen Gaffney, director of Lane County Health & Human Services Department, said, “The County is making a statement with this building.” She is proud to be part of building which will, “provide services for 3,000 of the most vulnerable people in the community. It shows that our people are worthy. Investing in community and staff is an important message,” she said.

Carla Tazumal, program manager for Lane County Developmental Disabilities department, commended PIVOT’s creativity and ability to design the facility during pandemic. “They figured out how to see materials in open air,” she said.

As Lane County Commissioner Joe Berney noted at the ceremony, this is one of the first facilities designed and built under the County’s community dignity protocol which promotes equity in the County’s design and construction practices.

Learn more about the DDS building which is slated to open in 2022.

Wow 03/25

Sketching Skills

We changed up our weekly all-staff meeting by grabbing our pens and pencils and sharpening up on our sketching skills. By sharing our different experiences and techniques, we improved our architectural skill by drawing different exercises together. These are a few examples from our talented team:

News 12/31

Reflecting on 2020

As the tumultuous year winds down and 2021 quickly approaches, we find ourselves reflecting. Despite the remote work learning curve and other challenges, we managed to meet milestones for projects as near as Eugene and as far away as Seattle. We’ve also been fortunate enough to land important new work, small and large, to solidify our prospects heading into the new year. Here are some of our observations:

- The strength and resilience of our community in times of crisis is awe inspiring.
- We can still practice architecture remotely, just with friendly “you’re muted” reminders.
- After months stuck at home, we realized how precious our light-filled, cheery office really is.
- We can work just fine without printing as much.
- On Zoom, people can’t see our lower half—hooray for sweatpants and slippers at work!
- Masks are a way to help protect but can also be a creative outlet.
- Connecting in person with our team on a camping trip and outdoor field games was made more special.
- We’re hooked on homemade sourdough.
- Our dogs love us being home. Cats, not so much.
- We dearly miss our coworkers, our community, and connections we make as humans.
- Living in an area surrounded by such natural beauty is wonderous.
- More time at home with our families and daily lunch dates with our spouses is something to cherish.