James Goettsch
Jim Goettsch is the chairman of Goettsch Partners, responsible for developing the firm’s design talent and leading the direction and quality of design for major projects.
Jim brings more than 40 years of professional experience. He has personally directed and has been involved in all phases of design and construction for buildings throughout the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. His experience includes high-rise office, hotel, residential and mixed-use developments; corporate headquarters facilities; academic and other institutional buildings; master plans; and renovation and repositioning assignments.
Noteworthy projects include the 54-story, core-supported 150 North Riverside tower in Chicago; the 45-story, multi-terraced Park Tower at Transbay in San Francisco; the 33-story original building and 24-story “vertical completion” at 300 East Randolph in Chicago, also known as the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois Headquarters; the five-building, 3 million-square-foot Abu Dhabi Global Market Square office complex in the UAE, which features the headquarters building of the Abu Dhabi Global Market; the two-building, 1.2 million-square-foot Mennica Legacy Tower complex in Warsaw; the China Diamond Exchange Center in Shanghai; the 900-key Hilton Riyadh Hotel & Residences; the Headquarters for the Americas for Japanese pharmaceutical company Astellas in Glenview, Illinois; and Northwestern University’s signature building for the Bienen School of Music, located along the lakefront of the school’s Evanston, Illinois, campus.
Jim received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Iowa State University. After two years in the military, he started his career in New York City. He later moved to Chicago to work for C.F. Murphy Associates, which became Murphy/Jahn. He remained with that firm for 19 years, including five years serving as principal in charge of the New York office. Jim joined Lohan Associates as a design principal in 1992 and helped guide the firm’s transition to Goettsch Partners in 2005.
Based on his “enormous contributions to the design of high-rise buildings around the world,” the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) recognized Jim with the 2019 Lynn S. Beedle Lifetime Achievement Award. He was elevated to the esteemed American Institute of Architects (AIA) College of Fellows in 1988. Throughout his career, he has been recognized by the AIA, the CTBUH, and other professional organizations and academic institutions with local, regional and national design awards, as well as invitations to speak publicly on design issues.
Jim is a member of the AIA, the CTBUH, and the Mies van der Rohe Society. He previously served on the boards of directors for both the AIA Chicago chapter and the Chicago Architecture Center.