James Goettsch, co-CEO and chairman of Goettsch Partners, has been delivering innovative design solutions for close to five decades now, going back to when he was running C.F. Murphy’s New York office in the 1980s. Goettsch’s boutique Chicago architecture firm moved from 105th on last year’s Midwest Top Design Firms ranking with $8.61 million in regional revenue to 94th this year, nearly doubling its revenue to $14.4 million. A hallmark of the firm’s approach is leveraging a client’s needs with engineering and construction solutions that form the basis for the architectural solution.
“The Chicago School of Architecture, whether it was the first or second school, has always influenced my approach to architecture,” says Goettsch. “There was something different going on in Chicago in the 1890s compared to New York. The design issues in New York seemed to be stylistic. In Chicago, the emphasis was to be more pragmatic, resulting in the evolution of deep foundations, structural frames, large windows and other technological advances that were incorporated into buildings in a way that enhanced the function. Later at midcentury with the emergence of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, he sought to elevate the art of construction, putting buildings together in an artful way that was utilitarian and with very sophisticated aesthetics.”