Jonathan Golli was born and raised in Pittsburgh.  He attended Pennsylvania State University and earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1996.  Following his degree, Jonathan returned to Pittsburgh to work in the steel industry as a mechanical design engineer.  Within five years, he had designed and installed steel furnaces, coal conveyance systems, transit equipment, and other heavy industrial machinery.  Wanting to pursue a professional design career, Jonathan left Pittsburgh to attend the University of Toronto, Daniels School of Architecture.  It is there that he completed his professional Masters in Architecture, receiving the RAIC Honour Roll, an award given to the top four students in each graduating class.  Jonathan also was awarded the Irving Grossman Memorial Prize for his thesis that provided affordable housing for immigrant workers. 

Since graduating, Jonathan has worked in San Diego for Steven Lombardi Architect,  EDGE Studio, and Astorino in Pittsburgh.  He currently works at GBBN Architecture and also teaches architectural design studio as an Adjunct Professor of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University.  Jonathan was recently awarded the AIA Silver Award for Gateway Station; his 5th AIA award for excellence in architecture since 2007.

Much of his professional experience is in higher education, cultural institutions, and contemporary single-family housing.  Growing up in Pittsburgh and working in the steel industry has had a lasting effect on Jonathan’s architectural interests.  He continues to explore the reinterpretation of the post-industrial landscape, and the juxtaposition of new building technologies with the aging infrastructure of Pittsburgh’s past.  Jonathan has completed the Erie Art Museum addition, the Tepper School of Business addition at Carnegie Mellon, and the lobby renovation for the Warhol Museum.  He recently has finished two downtown projects in Pittsburgh; the new Gateway Transit station, and the PNC Legacy Project on Liberty Ave.