PROFILE

ABOUT THE STUDIO
William / Kaven Architecture is a multidisciplinary design studio based in Portland, Oregon, working in architecture and interiors. The studio was officially formed by brothers Daniel Kaven and Trevor William Lewis in 2004, continuing a lifetime of collaboration that began as children in their home state of New Mexico.

Recognized by Architizer as one of the Top 5 Small Firms in the world, William / Kaven possesses a breadth of experience in multi-family housing, private residences, mixed-use commercial buildings, and retail environments. Our team is committed to developing and delivering innovative and aesthetically excellent design that responds sensitively to site, context, and client needs.

William / Kaven’s work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest, ArchDaily, Dwell, Hypebeast, and Wallpaper*, among other publications.

Daniel Kaven is a co-founding principal of William / Kaven Architecture and an American artist working in architecture, painting, film and photography. He is known for developing visionary architectural concepts that defy convention, enduring structures of exceptional craft, and interventions that lie at the intersection of the built environment and art.

His architecture has won a number of honors, including an Architecture MasterPrize; an International Architecture Award from the European Center for Architecture, Art, Design, and Urban Studies; and several distinctions from the AIA. He has served on architecture award juries and panels including Architizer A+ Awards, FRAME Awards, and Bisnow State of the Market, and his work has been published in outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The Architect’s Newspaper, Dwell, Designboom, Wallpaper, Architectural Digest, Dezeen and Hypebeast.

In 2018, Kaven publicly proposed a pair of 1000-foot skyscrapers interlinked by a botanical garden 680 feet in the air that would anchor a $3 billion redevelopment of a downtown property owned by the City of Portland. Kaven’s proposal also included a new underground bullet train hub that would interlink Portland to Seattle and Los Angeles. Dubbed the “Twin Towers of Portland” by the press, the buildings, which would have been among the tallest in America, gained widespread international acclaim for their innovative design and bold program.

Kaven is the author of Architecture of Normal: The Colonization of the American Landscape (Birkhäuser, 2022). The book is a visual and literary exploration of how evolving forms of transportation have dramatically shaped the built environment of the American West since the arrival of the Spanish in New Mexico, and has received coverage in journals such as Metropolis, GRAY Magazine, and Icon Magazine, among others. In 2022, Architecture of Normal won the GRAY Award for Best of Product Design.

CURRENT OPENINGS:
Junior Architect, 3+ years experience
Interior Designer, 3-5 years experience