The PIVOT Fellowship Application Period is Open Until April 6
Applications for the PIVOT Fellowship are now open!
One University of Oregon student will join us over the summer and work on a research project of their choosing as well as be integrated into our project teams.
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. It is a paid position and the term runs from June until September.
The PIVOT Fellowship is open to BARCH, BIARCH, MARCH, and MIARCH students for the summer preceding their final year of study at the University of Oregon. Students are selected following an application process that includes review of the candidates’ proposals for a project of their choice to be executed over the summer of the fellowship.
PIVOT Architecture is proud to celebrate Hannah (Felt) Davila on being a 20 Under 40 Award recipient, recognizing her exceptional leadership, professional achievement, and community impact.
A 2023 graduate of the University of Oregon with a degree in Business Administration and Management, Hannah joined PIVOT as an Administrative and Marketing Assistant and quickly distinguished herself through her initiative and dedication. After just a year and a half, she was promoted to Project and Grant Manager, where she helped launch PIVOT’s Community Services practice, expanding the firm’s support for clients through grant writing, strategic planning, community engagement, and partnership development.
Hannah’s leadership is perhaps best demonstrated through her involvement in the Team Oregon Build project, a statewide initiative connecting construction education programs with meaningful community projects. With her efforts, the program has grown to more than 100 schools, served more than 12,000 students, and delivered more than 500 shelters for wildfire survivors, individuals experiencing homelessness, and community organizations. Team Oregon Build was recognized nationally as Workforce Development Program of the Year in 2025.
Over the past two years, Hannah has also helped secure more than $3 million in grant funding for organizations across Oregon, supporting workforce development, housing initiatives, and educational programs. Her efforts contributed to a $2.45 million federal grant award for Everyone Village, helping expand transitional housing solutions for previously unhoused individuals.
Known for her collaborative leadership style and “On it!” attitude, Hannah has played a key role in growing PIVOT’s Community Services team while building partnerships with more than 50 organizations statewide. She regularly mentors high school and college students, serves on workforce development committees, and helps connect education with industry through regional Career and Technical Education advisory groups.
Hannah’s passion for service, innovation, and community impact makes her a truly deserving recipient of this honor. Congratulations, Hannah, on this well-earned recognition and the remarkable difference you continue to make throughout Oregon’s communities.
Life
A New Address for Kelley Howell
After 30 years in the profession, including nearly 20 at PIVOT, Principal Kelley Howell, AIA, is retiring this September. But this isn’t a sudden leap: it’s a plan that’s been simmering since she was 10 years old.
That’s when she and her sister were sent to spend two weeks with a family they’d never met near Marseille, France. After spending time at markets, playing pétanque, and eating dinners that ran late into the night, she came home asking why they couldn’t just stay. That question quietly took root and never let go. Kelley is finally answering it. She is moving to France to settle in Angers in the Loire Valley.
“We’re thankful to have had the chance to work, laugh, and learn alongside Kelley for so long,” said Principal Toby Barwood. “She is a remarkable architect, mentor, and friend, and her influence will continue to be seen in our people, culture, and work for years to come.”
“We remain fully committed to the long-term partnerships we’ve built with our clients,” Principal John Stapleton said. “We’ll continue with the high level of quality design and commitment to project success that PIVOT has built over our 70-year history. We’ve taken steps to ensure the projects Kelley has been leading transition smoothly to other principals, with project teams staying intact to ensure continuity.”
If you ask Kelley what she’s proudest of, she won’t point to a single project or to a ribbon cutting. Rather, she’ll point to a process. For most of her career, she has focused on public planning and sustainable architecture: schools, affordable housing, transit, civic facilities — the buildings that quietly hold communities together.
She has a gift for connecting the dots between complex programs, competing priorities, and desired outcomes, working through the hardest problems until solutions emerge that everyone can stand behind.
Her portfolio reads like a map of the region she helped shape:
Education — The Center Building at LCC, a 120,000-SF reinvention of a 1960s concrete structure into an award-winning, LEED Silver learning commons complete with library, cafe, and convenience store. Corvallis School District’s 247,100 SF of renovations, spanning a middle school library and CTE maker space to high school science classrooms and athletic facilities. Knappa School District’s successful bond campaign and new gym and middle school wing.
Public Infrastructure — Lane Transit’s Operations Command Center, a 15,700-SF hub for systemwide dispatch, security, and staff wellness. Expansion of the TriMet Merlo Bus Base in Beaverton.
Housing — Willakenzie Crossing, a 56-unit LEED Silver affordable housing community. Ollie Court, an 81-unit complex with an early learning center. ReOregon, rebuilding 70+ homes lost to wildfire.
Kelley joined PIVOT in 2007 after ten years practicing in Florida, was named an associate in 2010, and became a principal in 2014.
Kelley’s belief in learning beyond our walls and seeing the world through different perspectives shaped more than her own career; it shaped PIVOT’s culture. That belief drove her to launch the PIVOT Fellowship, now entering its ninth year, which invites University of Oregon students to propose a summer research project and work alongside PIVOT teams on projects — a chance to connect a student’s passion for emerging ideas with the day-to-day work of the firm.
She also created the Design Discovery Travel Award, which sends a PIVOT staff member on a journey each year to broaden perspectives and grow both personally and professionally. The experience is meant to ripple beyond the traveler by bringing new ways of thinking back to the whole firm.
“Travel changes how people see the world and each other,” Kelley said. “It stretches you to discover new ways of thinking, working, and living.” This is exactly the kind of perspective Kelley has spent her career trying to bring to her work at PIVOT. It seems fitting, in hindsight, that she’s now taking her own advice — permanently.
Merci, Oregon
Kelley leaves PIVOT with deep gratitude — for the clients who trusted her with their communities, the colleagues who became friends, and the people of Oregon who shaped an incredible chapter of her life and career. As she trades that chapter for a new one in the Loire Valley — a slower pace, a new language, and centuries of history and wine to explore — PIVOT raises a glass to everything she built here, and everything she taught us along the way.
Santé! Vive Kelley!
Careers
PIVOT is Hiring! Two Open Positions
PIVOT has openings for two positions with career growth in mind. We are seeking an architect with 5-12 years of experience and a design professional with 2-4 years of experience.
At PIVOT we emphasize meaningful, sustainable design and seek professionals who view architecture as more than technical problem-solving. Successful candidates can contribute to projects that serve clients, enrich lives, and create lasting value through thoughtful design. PIVOT’s culture centers on the idea that great architecture emerges from listening, collaboration, and a genuine desire to make places better for the people who use them
PIVOT Architecture is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We value diversity and welcome all perspectives and experiences to enrich ourselves, our workplace, and our projects.
