News

Former Partner Dick Bryant Passes Away

Richard “Dick” Bryant, AIA, a longtime partner of the firm who piloted a number of projects with school districts and was instrumental to PIVOT’s early success, died December 12. He was 70 years old. He retired from the firm in 2003.

In 1974, Dick began his long architectural career in Eugene with William W. Wilson and Associates later growing the company to Wilson, Bryant, Gunderson and Seider Architecture and Planning. Thanks in part to Dick’s leadership, the firm evolved to WBGS Architecture and Planning and to become one of the largest architecture firms in the Willamette Valley. The firm changed its name to PIVOT Architecture in 2006.

“Without Dick’s five-year plan for more responsibility and firm ownership, as well as instilling in us the confidence that Dick, Eric Gunderson, and I could be the next generation of firm leaders,” said Bill Seider, FAIA, “our careers would have certainly followed a very different path, and PIVOT Architecture would likely not be the family we are today.”

Among the many projects during his 29-year tenure with the firm, Dick designed Bohemia Elementary School in Cottage Grove and other school buildings in Brookings, Corvallis, Florence, Junction City, and Philomath. He also designed the building for the Boys and Girls Club of Corvallis.

Dick was born and grew up in Portland before moving to Bellevue, WA. He attended the University of Washington and received his Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1970.

Dick was an Oregon-registered architect and gave much to the profession throughout his career. He served as president of the American Institute of Architects Southwestern Oregon chapter on two separate terms, was the president of AIA Oregon, and served for many years on the AIA-OR’s Legislative Committee. After retiring from WBGS in 2003, Dick opened his own small architectural firm in Corvallis, Alta Vista Design.

Dick is survived by his wife Nancy, son Eric, granddaughter Mariah, brother Joe, and sister Kathleen. He will be greatly missed.

Corvallis School District Library
LTD’s Amazon Station
Corvallis Boys and Girls Club
News

2018 PIVOT Fellowship Application Process is Open

After a successful inaugural term, PIVOT Architecture is pleased to announce that applications for the 2018 PIVOT Fellowship are now being accepted. Applications are due January 8, 2018 and the term runs from June till September.

The Fellowship is open to University of Oregon BARCH, BIARCH, MARCH, and MIARCH students for the summer preceding their final year of study. One student will be 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.

2017 PIVOT Fellow Clay Neal focused on the “Missing Middle” housing in Eugene.

More information on the PIVOT Fellowship.

Life

Design Trip to Portland

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.

News

PIVOT Office Closed Friday 10.13

The PIVOT office is taking an architecture  design field trip to Portland and will be closed. We will open again Monday morning. Until then, email is the best way to contact us. Find email addresses here.