News

Meet PIVOT Architecture’s 2023 Fellows

Here comes double trouble! This summer, PIVOT has selected two students for the PIVOT Architecture Fellowship which is designed to let University of Oregon students explore a research project of their choosing and work within our project teams.

Josh Garhofer’s project focuses on the study of mobile home parks and manufactured housing looking at how their stigma influences neighborhoods. This stigma can lead to reduced property values, increased traffic, additional public infrastructure, increased risk of fire danger, and other issues. With affordable housing a pressing issue, his proposal aims to address this concern by understanding the viability of manufactured housing for creating sustainable, affordable housing developments that provide residents with safe and comfortable living conditions while changing the stigma of these types of housing.

Josh is from Seaside, OR and owns a home in Springfield, OR near a proposed manufactured housing community. He has a bachelor of arts in media communications with a minor in liberal studies from Oregon State University and is pursuing a master of architecture at the UO.

Willy Benjamin’s project looks at the feasibility of incorporating biogenic materials into conventional construction to sequester carbon and reduce the embodied energy of the built environment. With buildings contributing to nearly 40 percent of global energy-related CO2 emissions, regenerative buildings have the potential to significantly reduce the negative impact on the environment. His project aims to explore the barriers to and opportunities for the implementation of proven, yet alternative building materials.

Willy is originally from Hotchkiss, CO and served in the Peace Corps in Senegal. He has a bachelor of arts in international studies with minors in French, writing, and rhetoric from Trinity College and is pursuing a master of architecture at the UO.

About the PIVOT Fellowship

The PIVOT Fellowship is a means of fostering original thought about issues outside the daily routine or obvious future trajectory of our firm’s thought process. PIVOT selects fellows based on the nature of their project proposal and other factors. It is a paid position and the term runs from June until September. The fellowship is open to students for the summer preceding their final year of study at the University of Oregon. The fellows’ projects constitute half of the candidates’ responsibilities. Fellows will also be incorporated into PIVOT project teams for the duration of their term.

Wow

Scott Clarke, AIA, Celebrates 25 Years at PIVOT

We recently toasted a milestone: Architect and Associate Scott Clarke’s 25th anniversary at PIVOT!

“PIVOT has been an essential part of my life, and a place where I have been able to grow, learn, and (I hope) contribute,” Scott told the staff. “May you all benefit from your time here as much as I have.”

Scott is analytical by nature. We rely on him to evaluate, extrapolate, and get to the root of our clients’ desires to ultimately deliver projects they envision which suit their needs and accommodate the future.

A lifelong learner and deep thinker, he is drawn to architecture’s seemingly endless knowledge basis. And as a result, his colleagues at PIVOT and our clients have benefited from his ability to explore options and fundamentally understand how creative design solutions can serve communities for decades.

Scott’s link to the University of Oregon’s school of architecture has remained strong since he graduated from the program. He helped launch the PIVOT Fellowship program, which is going into its seventh year, and has regularly taught classes at the UO.

We are all extremely grateful to have worked side-by-side with you, learned from your knowledge and example, and the friendships formed throughout the years. Cheers to Scott!

Insight

Governor Kotek Visits Team Oregon Build

We were thrilled to have a few moments to tell Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek about the progress Team Oregon Build is making in her trip to Amity to visit an assembly site.

Team Oregon Build (TOB) is an innovative partnership between education, industry, state, and community to introduce youth to career pathways within high-wage and high-demand construction trades.

Through hands-on construction, students are making a difference in Oregon’s housing needs with 11,000 experiences to nearly 5,000 students statewide since the project got underway last year.

We’re honored to be part of a fantastic team that includes Lane ESD, Lane Workforce Partnership, Oregon Housing and Community Services, and many others.

Read more about Team Oregon Build.

 

Insight

Mayor Kaarin Visits PIVOT

With Eugene’s new mayor, Kaarin Knudson—a card-carrying architect—eager to engage with the community, we were thrilled to welcome her into the PIVOT office. Her visit was not only insightful but enlightening.

The way she sees it, being an architect has been an advantage as she gets used to the new job. Her professional training helps her navigate the technical complexity and interconnected systems that come with civic leadership. Being invested in the built environment and building culture is a collective effort and reflects how many in the design profession think about progression.

“With concentrations of positive energy, we can make an impact,” she said, urging PIVOT employees to make their voices heard in the community.

“It’s important that you stay engaged in public conversation enabling insights with professional opinions,” she said. “Let’s get energy moving in a productive way.”

Downtown Eugene: A Work in Progress

The potential of downtown Eugene and its role in the community has been a struggle for decades, she said. There are multi-layered reasons to how it’s gotten to its current state and one contributor is the lack of useful concentrations of housing downtown.

Having spent a decade deeply engaged in housing in our community, bringing a concentration of residential presence downtown is a priority for her.
“We could have a new trajectory of housing in downtown with rezoning and other efforts,” Mayor Kaarin said.

Mayor Kaarin pointed out that Eugene doesn’t have neighborhoods like those in other mid-sized cities. The large city block sizes in Eugene’s city center with designated uses impacts activation of the street edge.

“There are so many broken teeth in the downtown area,” she said referring to the abundance of inactive space. “There are no eyes on certain pockets.”

“We have some bright spots, but we are really struggling. We need to bring more people downtown,” she said. “There is a lot of work to do with public realm,” she said.

Public Safety: Shifting the Experience

Mayor Kaarin pointed out that the public safety metrics downtown are improving but the experience and the narrative have not shifted. “Public vs. private controlled spaces and civil rights are components contributing to the public safety issue,” she said.

“We have a lot of issues that compound the pushing people to the margins,” she said. Addiction, behavioral health, mental issues, and repeat offenders challenge resource allocation and are all contributors. “We need a compassionate but effective response,” she said.

City Government: Many Irons in the Fire

The issues the City of Eugene is dealing with are challenging and with multiple systems struggling it is creating huge crises. The City needs to work on more than one thing at a time with many irons in the fire creating policy decisions that affect multiple fronts.

“The City of Eugene should be an active partner to development of all sorts,” she said.

City-level budget conversations in coming months will be key with incredibly challenging budget and funding situations. “Tariffs and executive actions at the federal level are not insignificant for the City of Eugene,” she said.

Looking Ahead

While Eugene faces challenges, Mayor Kaarin still feels optimist about the future. “We need sustaining levels of positive energy,” she said.

Four months into her administration, the 40th mayor of Eugene is still getting her feet under her. But she insists she isn’t overloaded and “drinking from the firehose.”
“It’s more like drinking from a beautifully designed water feature,” she said with a smile.