PHILOSOPHY AND DESIGN INTENT

   From the beginning, the firm has been a general practice of architecture handling a variety of projects from residential to commercial and institutional. However, over the years, a major thrust of the firm has been directed toward commercial and institutional design due to Jim’s belief that institutional buildings characterize periods in history and should be ageless in terms of their appeal.

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   Mr. Raines has subscribed to the conviction that buildings, whether residential or institutional, small or large, should reflect their place and their times. They should be appropriate to their function in both design and the intangible aspect of “feeling.”

   For example, when one enters a museum it should feel like a museum and give the visitor the impression that this is a special place where through art, they can visually be transported to other times and places. Whereas a courthouse should invoke respect for the law and a sense of historical stability and confidence in our system. In the same sense, a home should reflect its owner and should transmit the owner’s sense of place while at the same time not overpower the people who enter there.

​EDUCATION

Tuskegee University,
Bachelors of Architecture/ 2000

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

American Institute of Architects

National Organization of Minority Architects

Registered in Alabama

Registered in Georgia