< About Us     As principal and owner of AXIOM Architects, Inc., Jim Kelliher is aware of the pressures to spend more time in business meetings and less time at the drawing board. Despite those demands, Jim, whose architectural career spans 35 years, is committed to functioning as an active designer and project manager at the firm he formed in the late 1970s and is just as comfortable making a formal presentation to clients as he is getting mud on his shoes from a construction site. “I became an architect because I wanted to design buildings and that’s still what I want to do. I love the entire process of architecture, particularly figuring out what a building wants to be and then getting the client excited about the project. From shaping a building for function, comfort and aesthetics, to making the most of the site it is built on, to ensuring that it becomes part of the neighborhood – these are the elements of architecture that make it so exciting to me.” That enthusiasm has been evident throughout Jim’s career. After completing his studies at the University of Notre Dame, Jim returned to Boston to work with Sert Jackson & Associates. He subsequently worked as a Project Architect and Designer at DRA, Inc. where he was responsible for a variety of large-scale institutional and commercial projects. Recognizing a need for versatile architectural services to meet the demands of the fast-growing South Shore of Massachusetts, Jim formed James M. Kelliher, Inc. Architects, in 1978, later renamed AXIOM Architects. It didn’t take long for the firm to become recognized throughout the South Shore and beyond for its restoration and adaptive reuse of existing buildings, as well as the design of new structures. As demand for AXIOM’s services has increased, so has the size of its staff and the scope of projects. For some architectural firm owners that might translate into scaling back on the “hands-on” work to focus on administrative duties, but not for Jim Kelliher. “I’m happier playing an active design role and I know that our clients are happier because of it.”

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