PechaKucha

Join us for an evening of PechaKucha (20x20) presentations on Tuesday, Dec. 6th. Reminisce about the days before smartphones and social media, and explore the role of analog practices in today's world. WKA co-founder, Daniel Kaven will be a featured speaker at the event, along side some of Portland’s most inspiring thinkers, designers, collectors and makers. Presenters will share past and present projects that combine analog and digital technologies in their innovative, modern designs.  

Grab your tickets HERE.

New Headquarters for WKA

WKA WILL SOON HAVE A NEW HOME. 

Envisioned as a 4-story, mixed-use office building located at the SW corner of N Williams Avenue and Mason Street in NE Portland, the project consists of underground parking, ground floor retail, office lobby, and core space, including space for William Kaven’s new headquarters.  

The base is clad in board form concrete with large storefront openings. Cantilevering out from the base, 3-stories of office clad in a refined curtain wall engage the Mason and Williams frontages. An outdoor terrace and extension of the office along the south at Level 2 serve to break down the building’s mass and scale and negotiate a transition to its residential neighbors to the south.  Balconies along the west facade capture views of downtown Portland and the west hills while providing shading and privacy to large expanses of office window. Williams seeks to elevate the streetscape along N Williams while capturing the energy and vitality of the growing neighborhood.   

Construction for the four-story, 31,000 square foot project will begin in Spring of 2017 with a completion date slated for Fall of 2018.  

READ MORE

CAMP MINOH FILM RELEASE

WILLIAM KAVEN ARCHITECTURE RELEASES SECOND SHORT FILM IN ONGOING MODERN CONDITION SERIES

William / Kaven Architecture announces the release of Camp MINOH, a short film by co-founding partner, Daniel Kaven. Shot at our residential project which is currently under construction, the three-minute film visually explores Camp MINOH in the context of Lake Michigan’s supernatural winter shores.  

“The Modern Condition series was born from our desire to communicate our design aesthetic in a much more experiential manner. Too often, architecture is relegated to static images, even though the inherent art of architecture is three-dimensional and fluid. In film, one can hear and move from one space to the other, which is much more like living and breathing in a space,” says Kaven.

Located near Charlevoix on the shores of Lake Michigan, Camp MINOH embodies the rugged ethos of the Midwest; a region known not only for its harsh winters, but also for its rich heritage. French trappers, Ojibwa Indians, Chicago mobsters, even Ernest Hemingway had an impact on the culture of the region. The site itself faces north-west towards Beaver Island, at the mouth of Little Traverse Bay. Nestled among the pine and birch trees, Camp MINOH is positioned to face the strong winter winds heading South, across the lake from the Upper Peninsula and Canada. Construction for the project is slated for completion by the fall of 2016.

VIEW FILM

Chinatown Hotel Project

William Kaven Architecture envisions major new hotel in Portland's Old Town/Chinatown.  

Portland Architecture

KGW News

Portland Business Journal

Daily Journal of Commerce

Gray Conversations

GRAY CONVERSATIONS: "INSPIRED BY TRAVEL: LOCAL DESIGN, GLOBAL INFLUENCE"

Tuesday, June 9, 2015 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM (PDT) Portland, OR

To celebrate and unveil Gray Magazine's June/July travel issue, a jet-setting group of Portland design professionals gathered to discuss how travel inspires them to create. Panelists, including Daniel Kaven, Managing Director of William Kaven Architecture, shared images from their most inspiring trips and discussed the designs that resulted from their fresh perspectives. READ MORE.

William Kaven X Subaru

William Kaven is big in Japan.

In Subaru Japan's recent ad campaign for the Subaru Outback, Daniel Kaven illustrates the commonality between architecture and car design.  Both environments, one static, the other mobile, are created to be fluid, elegant and fun to be in.  

In Daniel's own words, "Car design is very similar to architecture.  A car is a shelter that moves from point A to point B and architecture is static.  What is interesting about cars, is that they are not site specific.  They move between sites.." 

ArchDaily

William Kaven's ELEMENTS project featured on ArchDaily's Selected Works.

ELEMENTS is located seventy miles east of Portland, on the outskirts of Mosier, Oregon. Comprised of two stacked rectangular volumes, ELEMENTS stands as an architectural response to environmental extremes.

Bridge & Burn

New project in the works for Portland brand, Bridge & Burn. 

SEE MORE HERE

WKA in WSJ

The Interchange residence is featured in the latest Wall Street Journal.

READ ARTICLE

Process and Product: Daniel Kaven on Design and its Documentation

Portland Architecture on Daniel Kaven's design philosophy.

Read the full article HERE.

Dwell Features Elements Video by Daniel Kaven

From the feature:

"So often the architectural press gets caught up in the look of a place without considering how it might also feel. The team at William Kaven Architecture seeks to rectify that with a new video of their Elements house in Mosier, Oregon.

As William Kaven and the film's director, Daniel Kaven, put it, "Too often architecture is relegated to static images, even though the inherent art of architecture is three-dimensional and fluid. In film, one can hear and move from one space to the other, which is much more like living and breathing in a space."

This film, showing a house still very much in progress, also has a splendid stillness to it—a wonderful antidote to the click-mad design blogs and eyecandy sites that push the latest rendering from star firms. So watch this short video, let it push you to contemplate how architecture can make us feel, and dream, just for a moment, of such a spectacular view."

Read full article HERE.

ELEMENTS on MocoLoco

MocoLoco features ELEMENTS, a short film by William / Kaven Creative Director Daniel Kaven shot during construction of one of the design studio's residences that sits on a dramatic perch in rural Mosier, Oregon.

View article HERE.

American Institute of Architects recognizes Interchange with a 2011 Design Award

INTERCHANGE was conceived by William Kaven as a modern domus and organized the plan around a central court. As an alternate to dividing the site into the simplistic terms of front yard and back yard, the courtyard becomes the outdoor circulation and the destination that unifies all activities. One is never entirely indoors or outdoors, rather continually living amongst the two environments, with the slender rooms borrowing light, air, and view from beyond the threshold; and the courtyard extending its own boundaries through the three-sided reflections of itself in the glass that surrounds it.

The American Institute of Architects recognized William Kaven Architecture for the exemplary design of this project with an AIA Merit Award in 2011.

Read the Oregon DJC announcement HERE.

The North House on MocoLoco

See the post HERE.

Daniel Kaven in Portland Monthly

Daniel talks about Portland's surge of young architects in Portland Monthly Magazine article "Building Blocks."

"We’re all trying to galvanize architecture in Portland by building into the urban fabric and sharing similar ideals." -Daniel Kaven, William Kaven Architecture

Read full article HERE.

North House Featured in Portland Architecture

Portland Architecture's Brian Libby features William Kaven's North House.

"Each unit has a private courtyard and an expansive rooftop sun deck with views of the city. Passive green design features include stacked ventilation, a balance of ample windows overhangs for maximized daylighting, and (drumroll please) built-in laundry drying system on the roof decks."

Read the full article HERE.