John A. Martin & Associates, Inc. (JAMA) was founded in 1953 by John A. “Jack” Martin, Sr.. Under his leadership the firm built a solid reputation for client service, technical excellence and a commitment to people. Although founded as a Los Angeles-based practice, JAMA quickly began delivering structural services beyond Southern California and even today operates as a dominant player on landmark projects within the Western United States.
Work and notoriety grew rapidly for JAMA through the fifties and sixties setting the precedent for steel, long span truss, and concrete tower structures as a hallmark of JAMA’s extensive capabilities.
In 1970 John A. “Trailer” Martin Jr. joined his father and continued to diversify the firm’s geographic
reach and market capabilities, adding engineers licensed within all fifty states and Guam and Puerto Rico. Projects expanded throughout the United States and abroad in aviation, hospitality, convention centers, education, civic, healthcare, commercial and residential sectors.
The 1980’s and 1990’s were a period of impressive growth and accomplishment, and firmly established JAMA’s mark on the skyline of Los Angeles . The millennium brought a technological shift at the firm with the full integration of Building Information Modeling (BIM) into its design and production. Projects such as the Frank Gehry-designed Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and MIT Stata Center brought programs such as AutoCAD, Catia, Rhino and
Revit Structure into the forefront and helped streamline JAMA’s processes to visualize design opportunities, anticipate conflicts, and coordinate drawings and construction procedures. JAMA continues to be recognized as a leader in technology within the field.
The new millennium has brought continued advancement and evolution at JAMA. 2013 marked the firm’s 60th anniversary and in 2017 Trailer officially stepped down from day to day presidential operations of the firm, focusing on project design and our forensic and expert witness services division. A newly appointed Leadership Group, comprised of six Partner-level staff, now oversee the management, design and production of the firm.