As both an opportunity to serve as design inspiration and bring our staff together in a galvanizing experience, the entire PIVOT staff boarded a chartered bus and headed for a design field trip to Portland. During the trip, we learned a little bit about the projects that our co-workers cite as architectural inspiration and visited two noted Portland sites.

PIVOT connected with several project managers from Hacker to learn about some of the details behind the Portland Japanese Garden and the construction for First Tech Federal Credit Union.

The additions to the Portland Japanese Garden were designed by famed architect Kengo Kuma with Hacker serving as the local partner and combines traditional Japanese design with the spirit of the Pacific Northwest. The garden provides a place of tranquility while situated in the confines of the bustling metropolis. We learned how the Village House and Tea Café were intricately constructed with many locally-sourced materials.

The First Tech Federal Credit Union is a multi-phased project heavily using glulam and cross laminated timber (CLT) to decrease the carbon footprint of the 150,000 SF building. As CLT is a nascent building material in the US, for many of PIVOT’s staff it was the first time seeing it come together in a project.