Hispanic Enterprise - December 2007/January 2008 - (Page 17) “We have designed a lot for mass transit facilities—most recently the last station on the monorail system at Liberty International Airport that connects to the Northeast Corridor, a $45 million railway station,” he says. The number of ETC projects is impressive, with clients including such giant private corporations as Prudential Financial and Altria. Most, however, have come from DOSSIER Name: Alex Garcia Age: 55 Position: President, Principal and Founding Partner Company: El Taller Colaborativo, PC (ETC) Employees: 45 Specialties: Architecture, Engineering, Civil/Landscape Architecture, Interior Design, and Construction Management Gross annual revenue: $5.5 million Clients: (Partial list) Prudential Financial; Altria, Jersey City, Newark and Paterson Public Schools; Rutgers University; U.S. Military Academy/West Point; U.S. Postal Service; Elizabeth, Hoboken, Irvington, Jersey City, Newark, NYC and Paterson Housing Authorities; MTA Long Island Railroad; MTA New York City Transit; Amtrak; Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Education: New York City College (B.S., Arch. and M.S., Urban Planning); Polytechnic University of New York (M.S., Transportation Planning and Engineering) Descent: Cuban Family: Wife Muriel Garcia; daughters Marielle Rebecca Garcia and Ileana Maria Garcia Quote: “Architecture is becoming a commodity. We’re avoiding that trend.” the public sector such as schools, a number of federal government projects including one for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, plus a lot of work for state, county and municipal authorities, particularly low-income housing and traffic/transit solutions. Garcia says the public sector is an easier bet to break into than the corporate world—it’s less who you know than what know—and you just come in and compete. To date ETC has planned and designed more than 300 projects ranging in construction value from $5,000 to $600 million. For each project, ETC supplies all the skill required, from architecture, civil engineering and construction management to interior design, landscape architecture, vertical transportation and more. In other words, hands on every step of the way. Why? Because in Alex Garcia’s view, architecture has come to a fork in the road. One way heads towards a cost-slashing outsourcing remote-control operation in which floor plans and façade designs arrive on the cheap via Internet from some less developed part of the world. That is not the direction Garcia wants to go. “Architecture is becoming a commodity,” Garcia says. “Companies located halfway around the world in China and India offered to do our drafting and design. We’re avoiding that trend of becoming a commodity to be obtained at the lowest price.” He and his current partners Milan Patel, PE, and Francisco Ruela, RA, are determined to take the high road by emphasizing quality and taking an equity stake in development projects. The firm is also placing a huge emphasis on so-called “green” development, which takes into consideration conservations and environmental concerns. To do so, it is us- Railway station designed by El Taller Colaborativo ing techniques and professionals accredited by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. ETC is a member of the national and New Jersey chapter of the organization and currently has five projects seeking LEED certification. A particular source of pride is the $265 million Corona Maintenance and Car Wash Facility for New York City Transit, because it is the only facility of its kind in the United States that is formally LEED certified by the USGBC. The firm’s idealism is reflected in other ways, too, like in giving back to the community by donating modular-home designs to Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit that builds housing for the disadvantaged. Garcia also serves on the boards of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the United States Hispanic Advocacy Association. With idealism, vision and practicality, there is no doubt Garcia is not only doing what he wants, but is doing it his way. In fact, he describes his greatest satisfaction as “making my own destiny. As my dad would say, ‘Mejor cabeza de ratón que cola de león.’” 17 HISPANIC ENTERPRISE December/January 2008
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.