Page 27 - MidJersey Business - May 2014

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FORM

ARTURO PONCIANO
FUNCTION

rturo Ponciano was born in Guatemala and when he was a boy, the
family moved to the Bahamas for three years, then a year was spent

in Puerto Rico before he attended high school in London. He spent
his youth going to museums, exposing himself to all forms of art, and

acquired a deep appreciation for it. “I wanted to become an artist
Abut my parents really wanted me to become an architect,” Ponciano says. “I loved

viewing all forms of architecture, too, and realized that it really amounted to public
works of art, so I became an architect. I guess it worked out in my parents’ favor.”

Ponciano’s love for the craft lourished while a student at the University of Miami,
when he got to study abroad in Rome. “I was immersed in urbanism,” he says. “I

walked the streets, touched buildings, and was able to sketch. I felt surrounded by

da Vinci and the greatest artists who ever lived. It was a physical experience and a
real turning point for me. I learned more in those four months than in four years of

reading books.” After college, Ponciano got the chance to work alongside one of the
preeminent contemporary American architects at Michael Graves

and Associates in Princeton. “I couldn’t pass up he opportunity,”
he says. That’s where he irst met Joshua Zinder. He joined JZA+D

in 2009.
Locally, his work includes Pristine Fine Dry Cleaning and

Concierge of Princeton, which incorporates simple sustainable
materials to create a clean and intimate but transparent efect

for the customer to view the clothing racks and other areas of
the shop, removing any notion of a stale, steamy, unkempt space

one might envision a dry cleaners to be. Ponciano’s creations are
also found throughout the world. The award-winning design for

the upscale Waku Ghin restaurant in Singapore required novel

spatial and furnishing design plus construction administration to
integrate the restaurant within a congested commercial area. “It’s PROJECT MANAGER

one of my favorites,” he says.
Joshua Zinder Architecture + Design
Ponciano is pursuing socially conscious contemporary aesthet-
Age: 35
ics. “We like to involve the client in the process,” he says. “I can Education: University of Miami (FL)
spend long hours on the computer, which at times can be frustrat-

ing. 3D rendering does give a realization to any design but there’s
something really satisfying about model making and sketching. The computer

drawing is oftentimes almost too realistic. The client sees it and there’s no room for
interpretation, whereas with a hand sketch, there’s that human element and there’s

room for it to change as necessities change.”
Ponciano has taken his talents to Habitat For Humanity, helping build houses in

Trenton. “It was great to get your hands on the materials, working side by side with
contractors, getting dirty,” he says. “I’m pretty handy but those guys are real pros.”

Ponciano enjoys being with a irm where he shares the same contemporary vision.
“I want to continue to grow here and raise my family in this area. I have a one-year-

old now and there are a lot of sleepless nights,” he says. “But it’s great here, espe-

cially when a client is receptive to your vision, the design, and the outcome. When
I’m able to make someone else believe in a vision that I believe in so much, that’s the

best. We’re a young irm, growing steady and responsibly, with a strong vision.”

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