With nearly four decades of experience, Jim Herr has designed, managed, and completed commercial, cultural, education, research, hospitality, adaptive reuse, and residential projects. His expertise lies in coordinating design and construction through all phases for multiple project types and in navigating complex zoning and planning requirements as well as multi-agency approvals in urban contexts within the United States and abroad.
As partner in charge, Jim has overseen many of the firm’s residential and hospitality projects in New York City, including 432 Park Avenue and 277 Fifth Avenue. For each project, Jim serves as lead point of contact, directs design workshops and presentations, coordinates the work of the project team, expedites approvals with authorities with jurisdiction, oversees the completion of construction documents, and directs the firm’s involvement in the construction administration phase.
He is currently overseeing the completion of 125 Greenwich, a seventy story residential tower in lower Manhattan, the restoration and overbuild of a historic cultural gallery building on New York’s Upper East Side as well as overseeing the design of two residential conversions in midtown Manhattan.
Early in his tenure at Rafael Viñoly Architects, Jim assisted in the design and construction of the Tokyo International Forum for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. As Project Administrator, his tasks included coordinating all document submission packages, managing communications between the New York and Tokyo offices, and organizing and scheduling 110 project staff during the 12-month construction document phase.
Over the course of his career Jim has completed numerous complex renovations and conversions across New York City encompassing galleries, bars and restaurants, and offices. Jim’s commercial office conversions included the creation of the firm’s own headquarters office at 375 Pearl Street, and the transformation of the Albert Kahn-designed 787 Eleventh Avenue from automobile factory use to contemporary research and workplace environments.
Additionally, Jim brings substantial experience in diverse project typologies, having collaborated on and managed projects in various locations around the world, from the Brooklyn College, West Quad academic and student services complex in Brooklyn, New York, to the first phase of the Cleveland Museum of Art expansion and renovation, to the Tokyo International Forum in Japan and the Bronx Housing Court. He also directed and completed the first two phases of the Penn Medicine Complex, as well as numerous single family residences in the greater New York City area.
In his role as Partner, Jim shares primary responsibility for Design with fellow partner Bassam Komati.
Pratt Institute, School of Architecture, Bachelor of Architecture
American Institute of Architects
National Council of Architectural Registration Boards
Registered Architect throughout the United States
“125 Greenwich Street, Architect and Developer Dialogues,” Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation Real Estate Program, 2019
“Coordinating Structure and Systems in High-rise Residential Buildings,” Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2017
“432 Park Avenue,” Fox 5 Special, New York, New York, 2016