No two buildings designed by this 30-year-old architecture firm look alike, one of the company's virtues that can be attributed partly to partners Kennon Baldwin, Phillip Pape and James Ferguson's skill at enlivening the facades with materials, rhythms and patterns. Yet, they avoid the tendency toward trendy, rigid, minimalist designs.

"We work with folks from the ground up," said Baldwin, a senior partner. "We listen to what they have to say, but we avoid trendiness. Architecture is too long lived to be trendy."

The firm, which employs about 30 people, is admired for their work on biotechnology projects such as the adventurous Genentech manufacturing center located in Oceanside, a vision of integrated glass and steel, not to mention a $1.2 billion project at completion.

"We listen and we communicate with the client," said Pape, who is vice president of the firm. "We try to stay diverse. We have, what I like to think, is a good rapport with builders and at the end of the day, we can be proud of what we do here."

Staying on top of the ever-changing market is attributed much to the firm's philosophy to allow their employees to immerse themselves in multiple projects and most of the employees have already been with the company more than five years -- a testament to Baldwin's leadership through good and tough times.

In 1976, Jim McGraw decided to open his own firm as James McGraw Architect and soon after, acknowledged its growing list of employees by changing its name into James McGraw and Associates. Click here to read the rest of the article.
Source: San Diego Daily Transcript, September 14, 2006.