James B. Swiger
AIA, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C
President & Principal-in-Charge,
WYK Associates, Inc., and President,
Architectural Salvation, LLC
MAGGIE MATSKO
Photo by James Crim Photography.
FOR JAMES SWIGER , president of WYK Associates, Inc. and
Architectural Salvation, LLC, there was never a question of
what he wanted to be when he grew up. He has always known
his calling in life is to be an architect. “I have wanted to be
an architect since I was about 6 years old,” he says. “I never
wanted to be anything else.”
Swiger credits his grandfather for helping fuel his passion for
designing buildings. “My grandfather was the business manager
and director of special projects for Salem College,” he says. “He
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would take me with him to job sites and sometimes to meet
with the architect, which was very exciting for me.”
Today, Swiger’s career consists of owning and managing
WYK Associates, Inc., an architectural firm in Clarksburg
with roots dating back to 1900. The Salem, WV, native has
come full circle since he started his career as an intern for WYK
shortly after graduating from the University of Tennessee. While
he left for a time to work for two other firms, his return to
WYK in 2005 marked the beginning of the path to achieving