News

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.

Wow

PIVOT Architecture is Now 20% Ks

Eugene, OR—PIVOT Architecture is happy to welcome two new people to our team. With the hires of KC Eck and Kyle O’Hearn, K-named people now make up about 20% of the PIVOT population with A-names a distant second at 13%.

Architect KC Eck
KC joins the PIVOT team after working in the Eugene area for the past two years. KC earned his bachelor degree in architecture from the University of Texas at San Antonio and his Master of Architecture from the University of Oregon in 2018. KC is passionate about net zero/net positive architecture intertwining his knowledge into his work. He is a registered architect in Oregon with three years of experience. Living in Eugene has resulted in KC becoming an outdoor enthusiast and a major Oregon Duck fan.

Designer Kyle O’Hearn
Kyle joins PIVOT after working as a project engineer in construction. Beginning at age sixteen in construction, Kyle has learned to incorporate his passion for sustainability into his architectural career. He has a Bachelor of Science in Conservation Biology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison as well as a master’s degree in architecture from the University of Oregon. Kyle enjoys traveling to new places and spending time outdoors during his down time.

PIVOT has a history of making K-named hires. The firm has matched its record level of six K-named employees. KC and Kyle join Karen, Kari, Kelley, and Katie to cement control over the ceremonial moniker.

News

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

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: