Don’t know if this is true for all architecture firms, but Halloween is kinda a big deal in our office. We brought in Thai food for lunch and celebrated together with costume awards and a “face the cookie” challenge.
PIVOT Principal John Stapleton, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, had an interesting and wide-ranging conversation with KLCC’s host Michael Dunn on the Oregon Rainmakers podcast.
John met Michael in KLCC’s downtown Eugene studio in early October and discussed sustainability, education facility design, and John’s path in design and construction, beginning as a contractor and working toward a career as an architect.
Bill Seider, FAIA, casts a long shadow.
At 6-foot-4, many people look up to the accomplished architect, but none more so than all the PIVOT Architecture employees fortunate enough to have worked with and for him. Bill’s retirement in June ended a 49-year tenure at the firm where his influence over the years has been immeasurable.
“Bill’s immense legacy extends far beyond his dedication and contributions to our firm,” PIVOT Principal Kelley Howell said. “His love for mentoring and supporting young professionals has been instrumental in the evolution of our firm. We’ve all been fortunate to learn from Bill and to be guided towards innovation, values-driven work, and connection to our community.”
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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.
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.