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Conversation with Faces (2017), 44 x 32 in, Pastel on paper Atlantic Terminal, Photographer: John Bartelstone City (1995), 20 x 20 in, Pastel on paper Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Fernow Hall Addition & Landscape Design, Photographer: Jon Reis Jaya Series (2024-2025), Digital drawing WMATA Silver Line, Photographer: Joseph Romeo Roosevelt Island II (1994), 34 x 34 in, Pastel on paper United Nations New York Campus, Photographer: John Bartelstone

John di Domenico (born August 12, 1951) is an American architect and artist. He developed an interest in architecture and art as a child during visits to his grandfather’s boatyard in Greenpoint, Brooklyn where his father worked. He married Henritta di Domenico in 1984, and they had one child.

Education

Di Domenico was born in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to second generation Italian parents. He attended Brooklyn Technical High School from 1965 to 1969. di Domenico then attended the City College of New York where he was awarded a Bachelor of Science in Architecture in 1974 and a Bachelor of Architecture in 1975. After graduating, he worked in the Office of Planning and Development in Trenton, New Jersey. He earned a Master of Architecture in Urban Design four years later from Harvard Graduate School of Design. His urban design education was greatly influenced by his studio professors Wilhelm Viggo von Moltke and Moshe Safdie.

During di Domenico’s time at Harvard, he was also engaged in planning coursework at Harvard Law School and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with Kevin A. Lynch. From 1979 to 1980, he was a Fulbright Scholar at Sapienza University of Rome. His studies focused on the reuse of urban infrastructure and post-World War II planning and design in Rome, highlighting issues of gentrification that accompanied rapid reconstruction.

He has been the recipient of multiple private and public grants, including a National Endowment for the Arts design grant with which he studied the reuse of urban infrastructure. The study cited instances of the transformation of infrastructure for urban occupation. Examples featured included large infrastructure later occupied and transformed for use as housing and urban amenities, including Diocletian's Palace in 13 BC and the Theatre of Marcellus in the third century. The urban proposition of reuse was highlighted by proposals for the reuse of the High Line in New York City, later documented in the Reclaiming the Highline catalogue by the Design Trust for Public Space.

For more than four decades, di Domenico has practiced architecture while painting. His artworks are a visual narrative of his design process and draw on formal design ideas, client contact, and his studio practice.

Career

Di Domenico started his professional career in 1975 working for the Department of Planning and Development in Trenton, New Jersey. Following graduate school and after returning from his Fulbright in Rome, di Domenico went on to co-found the New York City architecture and landscape architecture studio Weintraub & di Domenico in 1981. The studio was best known for its design of public open spaces, such as East Harlem Art Park, McKenna Square, and Gantry Plaza State Park, designed in association with Thomas Balsey Associates. di Domenico was responsible for the restoration of the former railcar gantries, the centerpiece of Gantry Plaza State Park.

In 1992, co-founder Lee Weintraub left the studio, and di Domenico went on to found the successor studio di Domenico + Partners (dD+P). Soon after, Andrew Berger and Richard Sullivan, Senior Architects at the predecessor studio Weintraub & di Domenico, were elevated to Partners. In 1996, Richard Sullivan left the studio. John di Domenico founded the studio with a focus on design excellence in the civic realm and collaboration with the individuals for whom a project is being developed. dD+P is known for architectural, landscape architectural, and urban design projects for major transit authorities, universities, schools, and other public, private, and institutional clients.

Di Domenico has performed extensive research on the symbiotic relationship between public transit, the spatial form of the city, and the reuse of urban infrastructure. His projects include conceptual design for a high-speed rail system along the Boston-Washington corridor, two buildings for Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, library media centers for New Visions for Public Schools, and landscape design for the United Nations New York Campus. Additional career highlights include leading the design of Brooklyn’s Atlantic Terminal and mixed-use transit-oriented development, planning, and architectural prototypes for WMATA's Silver Line in Northern Virginia.

In 1981, di Domenico joined the City College of New York as an adjunct professor and transitioned in 1983 to a full-time faculty member position at the New York Institute of Technology. In 2017, he continued at the New York Institute of Technology as an emeritus adjunct professor where he teaches Design Studio and City Planning.

Di Domenico served as Dean and Chair of the architecture program at the New York Institute of Technology from 2000 to 2001 and from 2016 to 2017. He has served on the boards of Coney Island USA since 2007 and the New York Transit Museum since 2001.

In 2013, di Domenico was awarded the Sidney L. Strauss Award presented by the New York Society of Architects for Outstanding Achievement for the Benefit of the Architectural Profession.

Notable Projects

Led by John di Domenico:

  • Atlantic Terminal
  • Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Fernow Hall Addition & Landscape Design
  • East Harlem Art Park
  • Gantry Plaza State Park
  • McKenna Square
  • United Nations New York Campus
  • WMATA's Silver Line

Exhibitions & Lectures

  • “A Traveler’s Journey.” International Interior Design Association, New York Chapter, November 2016, New York, NY. Lecture.
  • “Grid to Diagrid: A Vision for Transforming the Metro in the Virginia Landscape.” Catholic University of America, Fall 2005, Washington, DC. Lecture.
  • Advisor, “Inclusive Placemaking: Empowering Grassroot Visions Through Community-led Design.” American Planning Association, National Planning Conference, 16 April 2024, Minneapolis, MN. Conference Presentation.
  • Red and Black. New York Institute of Technology, Gallery 61, New York, NY.
  • RE-STORY-ATION: ART + ARCHITECTURE. 3 May–25 May 2024, Artego Gallery, Astoria, NY.
  • Surface Tension. 2015, New York Institute of Technology, Gallery 61, New York, NY.
  • The Commute. New York Institute of Technology, Gallery 61, New York, NY.
  • Urbanessence. 9 September–4 October 2010, New York Institute of Technology, Gallery 61, New York, NY.

Further Reading