The globally renowned architecture firm Goettsch Partners has announced that the firm’s chairman and co-CEO, James Goettsch, FAIA, will be honored with the prestigious lifetime achievement award from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), a respected international organization devoted to the field of high-rises and sustainable urban design. The honor for Goettsch, based on his “enormous contributions to the design of high-rise buildings around the world,” says CTBUH, will be presented at the 2019 Tall + Urban Innovation Conference held in Shenzhen, China, April 8-10, 2019.
Announced this month by CTBUH, the 2019 Lynn S. Beedle Lifetime Achievement Award “recognizes an individual who has made extraordinary contributions to the advancement of tall buildings and the urban environment with significant effects extending beyond the professional community to enhance cities and the lives of their inhabitants.” The group acknowledged Mr. Goettsch’s role as design director for tall buildings throughout the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and his recognition as a member and fellow of the AIA. He previously served on the boards of directors for both the AIA Chicago chapter and the Chicago Architecture Foundation.
GP, through a progression of leadership transitions, traces its roots to the practice started by Mies van der Rohe in 1938. James Goettsch joined in 1992 and helped guide its transition to Goettsch Partners in 2005. Today, GP is led by six partners — all accomplished architects — including Goettsch, as chairman and co-CEO; co-CEO and president James Zheng, AIA, LEED AP; managing partner Michael F. Kaufman, AIA, LEED AP; managing partner Joseph Dolinar, AIA; technical partner Lawrence C. Weldon, AIA; and design partner Paul De Santis, LEED AP.
“I am thrilled to see Jim recognized with this tremendous honor,” says the co-CEO and president Zheng. “All of us at the firm join him in celebrating a career of tall building accomplishments that continually inspire our work.”
In addition to his overall leadership role in the firm, Goettsch leads the direction and quality of design for major projects. With more than 40 years of experience, he has personally directed and has been involved in all phases of design and construction for tall buildings worldwide. 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; and 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.
