Today we’d like to introduce you to Juan Moreno.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My story is one that begins on the West Coast, where my family migrated from Colombia. I am Colombian born but raised in Los Angeles. I completed my college education in Southern California with some college experiences in Florence, Italy. All my personal and academic experiences have impacted me in terms of the person I am today. My Colombian heritage is certainly one that I am very proud of, and one that has ramifications in the way I think of business and the way I conduct myself. I was studying and practicing as a young architect in Los Angeles when this city was the epicenter of architecture in the country in the 1980s.
The architecture firms that were being founded in Los Angeles were well known. It was such a liberating time in architecture, there was freedom for the exploration of ideas and materials. The ideology of liberation has always resonated with me. In 1999, I received a job offer to move to Chicago, this would allow me to have some career mobility and build my resume. The job offer was to be a Global Director of Design for an international architecture and engineering firm. I didn’t know whether I was really going to stay in Chicago very long, but the journey from 1999 to today is one that has been a unique one for me as an architect. During this journey, Chicago became home. It was a place where I felt very comfortable and I quickly became a part of this city.
Chicago was a place where as I found myself spending a lot of time with Chicago’s disadvantaged youth communities. I often got invited to speak to different groups of Chicago’s youth and before I knew it, inadvertently became a mentor and found myself becoming more involved in neglected communities. During this time, I was working in a corporate architecture firm and gaining more interest in Chicago’s disadvantaged neighborhoods. Ironically, I was spending most of my time working on mega projects in the Middle East where budgets and money were never an issue. Often, I would come home and wonder what more I could do within some of Chicago’s neighborhoods.
Whenever I brought up the subject of wanting to do more with these communities at the firm I was at, I was always confronted with pessimism, negativity, cynicism or just absolute disdain. I knew that the only way to ultimately satisfy what I felt was important as a human being an architect was to go into business for myself. Within my belief system was a strong desire to truly create architecture that could impact people’s lives. In 2010, I reached a breaking point as an architect and it drove me to I start my own firm, JGMA. I started JGMA without a formal business plan, without really knowing where it was going to go, nor did I really care about the future. I just knew that I was going to take myself back to feeling as liberated as possible. I wanted to feel the same way I felt when I experienced architecture in Los Angeles in the 1980s.
As an architect, I wanted to feel liberated and to the point where I no longer had to ask for permission. I just wanted to do what intuitively felt was right. When I started JGMA, I knew that my mission was to predominately work in Chicago’s disadvantaged communities. I felt that architecture is a form of art which can create change, but unfortunately, most firms were not practicing it. My talents as an architect were to lead me to transform the lives of people and places through architecture. From 2010, so now we have become one of the most prominent designer firms in the city and internationally. We contribute our success to the fact that we are a firm that invests everything we can in ideas. The exploration of new ideas is important to me as I prioritize this over anything in business. I want to make sure this office is always going to put an emphasis on the exploration of thought and challenge ourselves to think about architecture as differently as possible. Ultimately, this is what has allowed us to become successful.
As our projects are built we notice how they provide opportunity and growth for the communities. A project which resembles the positive impact made to a community and individuals is that of an elementary school on the Southwest side of the city. This school doesn’t look like any other elementary school in the city. Historically and culturally, this educational institution used to be an establishment where most students tended not to go to school, but currently, the attendance rates hover at 99%. Witnessing change and the positive impact that JGMA has in the communities fuels my passion to continue providing the people of Chicago with unique architecture.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
One of the interesting things as a firm is that since we started JGMA in 2010 we’ve never had an issue finding work. We have never had the fear of obtaining a project because we have opened ourselves to many people and organizations. We are fortunate to count on numerous entities that are willing to help and support us. People reach out to us to help them because they know who we are and what we stand for as a firm. I would say that in the field of architecture one of the main challenges is that architects become the bank for the projects.
Historically, architects have not been paid up front for their work and service. I sometimes jokingly say that the biggest challenge as a firm is being projected rich and bank poor. You can be incredibly busy with projects, but until you advance a project a significant amount you don’t receive payment. I put every cent of my savings into this business just with the hope that it would succeed. The biggest challenge early on was the notion of having work and not the finances to sustain that. When you’re new business banks are not reaching out to you to give you lines of credit and a lot of people don’t believe in you, but you must continue believing in yourself and in that voice inside you telling you what you’re doing is right. Another obstacle that JGMA has faced is finding people to have enough courage to believe in you and to hire you.
When I started my own business my years of experience and credibility were originally ignored by the industry. It takes very special clientele to look deeper to believe all the credibility and prior experience you have. Getting people to see that was a big challenge. Getting people to see and realize the good of my firm was a unique experience. Our firm is an architecture firm that proudly and unabashedly celebrates provocative design. Our architectural design is meant to wake up people, bring attention to our communities and to celebrate life one way or another. Sometimes this is an art form that is not welcomed by all individuals, it’s not an art form that is for the masses. I would say that another challenge that we have faced as a contemporary architecture firm is that there have been times when we’ve created projects and our ideas are not considered. For example, we were hired by a significant developer to do our first high-rise in Chicago, a project that was a wonderful victory for us because it represented a unique opportunity.
We met the design wishes of the client and the fiscal responsibility of the project. We also obtained all approvals, but the entire process was interrupted and detoured in another direction. In this case, a local official in that ward was not interested in contemporary work and blocked the project for six months. We were removed as the architect and another architect was brought in to draw a building that an alderman wanted them to draw and the project moved forward. This scenario illustrates the desire of a client who was willing to leave a positive mark on the city and do something right for the community, but a local official created a roadblock. This scenario will leave another scare in our city in terms of something that could’ve been special. I believe our city deserves better.
JGMA – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
JGMA is an architecture firm that emphasizes innovation and design that transcends in areas of architecture whether it be planning, interiors, branding, product design, or project design. This has allowed us to explore ideas and opened us up to the marketplace in ways that provide zero limitations. We proudly say that our specialization is architecture and design and we do not subscribe to the idea that we must be specialists in one market sector. The irony is that we have been successful in all those market sectors, which I believe is ultimately a result of our vision.
I founded JGMA with two profound beliefs: 1) the importance of creating inspirational architecture in our underserved communities. These communities represent the lifeblood of our city, however, are often ignored by most architecture firms who tend to focus on the city center. My work focuses on these diverse communities which are desperate for architecture that transforms and promotes change. 2) innovation in design still matters in architecture. Chicago has a profound legacy for its architectural innovation with a notable list of architects such as Burnham, Sullivan, Wright, and Mies.
However, a list of innovators in 2017 is void of names that measure up to the past. Many of today’s firms have turned their focus to production, whereas I am driven by the search for ideas and how innovation still has a place in architecture, now, more than ever. In 2010, I started JGMA with those core beliefs; now, 7 years later, the firm has grown to 23 talented designers and has become one of the most award-winning design firms in Chicago. We were recently ranked #37 Design Firm by Architect magazine and were recently selected by Modern Interiors magazine as the “Best Architecture Firm” in their annual Best of Design Issue. In addition, in 2014 JGMA was recognized by Crain’s Business as one of the architecture firms “reshaping Chicago”. The evolution of the firm is such that JGMA’s works have begun to truly transform some of our communities. That recognition has exposed JGMA’s art to a broader audience. Now our portfolio of projects is expanding throughout Chicagoland, the U.S. and into international opportunities.
JGMA is a design laboratory and it is a realm of creativity that I am incredibly proud of. At JGMA we like to think that we are one of the firms in Chicago truly innovating. I would say that what I’m most proud of is that every single day I get to walk into a place that exceeds any dream that I could have ever had. I am a constant dreamer. When I walk into the office and see what we are doing I stop to reflect and make a note a to myself that I can never take it for granted. I know this can be taken away from me at any instant and it drives me to continue my work as an architect. I know we have the potential of leaving a positive mark in communities with our work.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I would define success as the following: listening to your intuitive voice, holding your personal conviction high, realizing that there is always more to be done, and knowing that the dreams you once had have become a reality. Firstly, to me, success is when you’re following the path that has been set out by the little voice inside you.
Personally, for me, it was the intuitive voice inside me that kept reminding me that better architecture needed to be practiced in the city. It is constantly reminding yourself that there is always a better way to work with people and sticking to that. Secondly, success is understanding that your personal conviction must always be held high, never compromised and that you are able to maintain that. You must fortify your own conviction daily and with every passing year reference it and build upon it. I wanted to prove to myself, my colleagues, and the greater community that in fact there was a better way to be architects. There’s always a better way to provide the architecture to people who deserve better.
Also, there is always a way to create works that will truly inspire and leave a long-lasting mark on the people of our city, Chicago. We must realize that there’s so much more that needs to be done daily to improve the city we live in. Lastly, I also think success is simply opening a front door and walking into a place that you know is yours. It doesn’t matter how many people work for me. It doesn’t matter how many projects we are working on, just knowing that I’m walking into something that started as a dream and desire has become a reality, to me this describes incredible success.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jgma.com
- Phone: 312.895.4438
- Email: info@jgma.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jgma_insta/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JGMA-185951671449226/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/JGMA_architects
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