Graham Projects is excited to welcome Jonathan Zoccoli (he/him) to the team as our Landscape Designer & Field Lead, a hybrid creative-installation role. Previously, he worked as the Landscape Designer for two years at the Better Block Foundation in Dallas, Texas, where he led the community-informed design process for the transformation of the public realm in 15+ communities across the United States.
While he grew up in Berlin, Connecticut, Jonathan has been fortunate to have lived in 5 countries (Greece, the Netherlands, Panama, Spain, New Zealand) before moving to Baltimore. Jonathan’s artistic awakening in Dallas and strong belief in community-informed transformation of the public realm led him to excitedly join Graham Projects.
Read on to learn about Jonathan’s placemaking ambitions with the Graham Projects team and personal creative philosophies.
What’s your guiding principle for everything you work on?
My guiding principle is observing before acting, and subsequently fostering a sense of mutual respect and trust in order to design inclusive interventions representative of the community. Artistically, my principle is to go big with the artistic idea first and bring it down to reality after. I also believe in leading with authenticity!
What are some of your proudest accomplishments?
- Becoming fluent in Spanish
- Muralizing half of an entire building in Houston humidity
- The transformation of the intersection at Ewing Ave & Vermont Village in Oak Cliff, Dallas
- Becoming an uncle!
What are you excited to do with Graham Projects?
Everything! I’m excited to continue working with communities to create safer, more-liveable streets and spaces centered around walkability, livability, and joy! I’m looking forward to growing artistically, as well as to developing a stronger project management skillset.
What are some of your dream projects? Is there a concept that you’d love to execute in collaboration with Graham Projects?
A continuous, multi-planar mural (e.g. extending from the street through the sidewalk and up the side of a building, and beyond).
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
- Urban biking
- Hiking
- Camping
- Body surfing in the ocean
- Swimming pool laps
- Thrifting
- Arts and crafts
- Eating ice cream
- River tubing
- Skiing
- Reading
- Gardening
- Learning new languages
- Yoga
- Doodling/sketching
- Photography
Is there a website or platform that we can find any potential creative ventures of your own or artwork?
@artjoobly / @jlbroccoli on Instagram