Octavarium

  • Prize
    Winner in Landscape Architecture - Conceptual Landscape
  • University
    Savannah College of Art and Design
  • Lead Designer
    Gabriel Velasco
  • Design Team
    Mentor: Ryan Madson
  • Project Location
    Savannah, GA
  • Project Date
    November 7, 2022

The life cycle is a undetermined path with multiple lines to follow, distinct edges sharing the same bounderies. Every short of breath, we get closer to the end. Life is controlled by time, our cycle ends where it begins, a perfect sphere express the invisible and projected boundaries of our existence.
Octavarium is a project that celebrates life, providing a moment of reflection of how humans live around a sphere. The intention is to communicate the life cycle through spheres & time through swings, with the understanding that people should swing back and forth in time but live in the present moment.
The project consists with the redesign of Elbert Square and the adaptation of the renewed entrance for the Jonny Mercer Theater as an urban lobby for the city of Savannah. The program incorporates the design of a woonerf on McDonough St, a garden of spheres on Elbert Square and interactive swings as the urban lobby for the theater. The project’s distribution has the purpose to be a connecting bridge between the existing conditions towards a moment of celebration, a moment that celebrates life and time.

Bio
Architecture awakened new
senses in my ability to reason,
with culture, language
and art as the main factors
for communication. With
that, learning how to express
myself through design
cooperating with the
environment/landscape has
been a lifetime experience.

Other prizes
Winner - 2023 Built Design Awards - Emerging Landscape Architect of the Year Winner - 2023 COTE TOP 10 Student Awards Winner - 2022 AIA GA Design Awards Winner - 2021 AIA SAR ASPIRE Student Design Award Merit Award - 2022 AIA Savannah Student Design Award Merit Award - Lyceum Fellowship Design Competition 2021 Honorable Mention - 2022 Terraviva Competitions Honorable Mentions - 2021 International Design Awards Honorable Mentions - 2022 International Design Awards Nominations 2022 Senior Project Sustainable Design Award Architect’s Newspaper 9th Annual Best of Design Awards Architect’s Newspaper 10th Annual Best of Design Awards AIA GA 2021 & 2022 Design Awards Dean’s List - Fall 20/21, Winter 20/21 & Spring 22