30 Years in the Business

JLG Architects is a huge force in its industry. Veteran Board Member and Architect James Galloway discusses his career and the evolution he’s seen in architecture and design.

James Galloway, AIA, LEED AP

Principal Studio Architect, Board Member

JLG Architects

Grand Forks

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WHEN DID YOU JOIN JLG?

I joined JLG in September of 1996. My wife and I just had our third child. Our oldest was getting to be school age and we weren’t happy with the school options where we lived. We are both from small towns in North Dakota and Minnesota — I’m from Park River, North Dakota, and my wife, Pam, is from Roseau, Minnesota. I was working for a great firm in Minneapolis, but we thought we should see if there were any good architecture firms in a smaller community closer to home. On a whim, I responded to an ad from Lonnie (Laffen, co-founder of JLG Architects) and the rest is history.

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WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO THE COMPANY?

Lonnie had just landed a very large project — the Alerus Center in Grand Forks — in a partnership with Schoen and Associates, and they needed someone with some big project experience. I was a little reluctant to move to Grand Forks, thinking that after the Alerus Center, my career would be destined for roof repair and porch additions. Nothing could be further from the truth! I have had an incredible opportunity to work on a huge variety of project types and they have all been awesome. JLG was particularly attractive because it was so different from my previous big firm experience. When I joined in 1996, I think there were five employees. Today, we are north of 100 employees.

WHERE HAD YOU WORKED BEFORE JLG?

There were not a lot of job opportunities when I came out of college in 1988, and I was fortunate to get hired at Hansen Lind Meyer in Iowa City, Iowa. At HLM, I was thrown into the deep end and I learned a ton during my three years with them. Then I had the opportunity to move to Minneapolis to be closer to home, but also to work at my aspirational firm — HGA. It was so awesome working at HGA. They are still one of my favorite design firms to follow. I met so many wonderful people there. The principal I worked under, Gary Nyberg, has had the most profound impact of anyone I have ever met in my career. What a great guy.

Q. A. WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO BECOME AN ARCHITECT?

My mom was an artist and my first love was art. I also had an outlet for my artistic/drawing passion. In high school and college, I had a cartoon strip that was published in the school newspaper. In retrospect, I appreciated the opportunity to be a little wacky. But I didn’t think I could make a living at it, so I stumbled upon architecture as a profession that incorporates art and science. Growing up in Park River, I didn’t know what architects did. Now that I have been doing it for nearly 30 years, I can’t imagine ever doing anything else. I love it.

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WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE JLG PROJECTS?

That is a tough call for me. Each project is so different, the challenges are different, the context is different, so it is really hard to pick a favorite. But I will. You can see in my previous answers the variety of projects we do at JLG. My all-time JLG favorite is a 96-square-foot project designed by Joel Davy — the Roberts Street Chaplet in Fargo. It is so simple, clean and practical.

After the chaplet, my top five would be:

University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences building in Grand Forks, which I designed UND Gorecki Alumni Center in Grand Forks, which I designed UND’s Wilkerson Commons in Grand Forks, which I designed Loretta Building in downtown Fargo

Watford City High School and Event Center in Watford City, North Dakota I have to pinch myself sometimes to be able to be involved in so many awesome projects.

JLG HAS BEEN EXPANDING RAPIDLY RECENTLY. WHAT HAS LED TO THIS BOOM IN BUSINESS?

We made a strategic decision years ago to be a firm that outlives its original founders. It seems many architecture firms get to a point when the original founders retire or try and sell their firm and it completely disrupts the lives of all their employees. We didn’t want to do that. We wanted to be a legacy firm that would continue on for many years. Making that decision, to be a legacy firm, brought great clarity for us as a firm that we need to continue to grow. Now that we are 100 percent employee owned, I think JLG will be around for a very long time.

I think the boom is a result of a convergence of several factors.

First, we hire great people with a passion for design and we turn them loose — that translates to delivering great projects. We work very hard to continue to deliver the very best service and that is huge part of our brand.

Second, we have not been afraid to take calculated risks over the years. We are unlike any firm I know of — we have 12 offices and 100-plus employees in a variety of large, medium and small markets. It sounds kind of crazy but it is working.

Third, a little oil boom is pretty good for business. We had the foresight to be situated in markets and building types that have grown significantly with the growth of the energy industry in North Dakota.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BIGGEST CHANGES TO THE ARCHITECTURE INDUSTRY YOU’VE WITNESSED IN YOUR CAREER?

This one is easy: technology. When I started 29 years ago, we produced construction documents by drawing on paper — or mostly Mylar, to be more accurate — with graphite pencils or pen and ink. Documents took much longer to produce. Technology in the design profession today is incredible. The computer-generated models contain so much data and are able to convey tons of information.