Pico Velásquez is an architect, multimedia director, movement composer & entrepreneur. With a Master’s in Design Technology with distinction from Harvard University, a background in mathematics and computational design, and trained as a classical ballet dancer for over 12 years, Pico combines her academics and passions to bring a unique perspective to the overlapping worlds of art, culture and entertainment.
Her expertise and diverse spectrum of projects center around re-imagining architectural spaces, parametric structures, programmatic narratives with audio-visual integrations, interactive digital experiences, and gaming. Most recently she founded Ombiia Entertainment Inc, a company that focuses on designing the future of performance venues and productions for both physical and virtual environments.
In the past 10 years Pico has collaborated with esteemed designers and entertainment leaders to work on inspiring projects around the world. These include leading the canopy geometry for the new Google headquarters in CA with Bjarke Ingels Group, the concept of the Elysium memorial with Guy Laliberté (founder of Cirque du Soleil), Samsung’s Social Galaxy with Kenzo Digital, Haier's interactive Museum in Qingdao with AIM, the 60ft long real-time digital art wall for Fisher Brother's 299 Park Avenue building in New York City, directing the Oculus for the new Hard Rock Casino & Hotel with Rockwell Group, and currently as the creative director for the multi-player environmentalist video game Superforest, among others.
In an era where our virtual and physical worlds are more interconnected than ever, PIICO questions a new spatial dimension that leverages immersive and interactive mediums to rethink the perspective of our built environment.
Pico grew up in Bogotá, Colombia independently pursuing all topics that attracted her fascination. From digital art to geometry and dance; as a finalist in the Colombian Mathematic Olympiads and training as a classical ballet dancer for over 12 years. After studying architecture and applied mathematics, Pico worked for esteemed Colombian architects Giancarlo Mazzanti and Daniel Bonilla parametrically designing the canopy of a complex cloud-shaped coliseum and the first Hyatt Regency Hotel in the country. Parallel, she co-founded an architecture and construction practice that designed and built 12 luxury villas amidst the mountains of Payandé, Colombia.
Pico then joined the Harvard Center for Green Buildings & Cities where she investigated different high-rise typologies to come up with integrated solutions between form, function and energy optimization for Evergrande Group in China, whilst simultaneously researching nano-scale multi-material structures for passive ventilation strategies with the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard.
In 2015 Pico joined renowned architecture firm Bjarke Ingles Group in New York City to design the concept of the multi-media Elysium Memorial for Guy Laliberte, founder of Cirque du Soleill. Elysium was designed as a double spiral projected on a sphere which along its paths contained thousands of digital vessels representing the unique yet parallel stories of peoples lives - A mix between a library, a museum and a collective consciousness of humanity.
Subsequently at BIG, Pico led the canopy geometry for Google’s new headquarters in Mountain View CA. This consisted on working closely with engineering consultants to parametrically solve the double curvature of the 370,000sf surfaces for Google's enclosure in terms of structure, drainage, daylighting and energy consumption.
With a strong passion for the Performing Arts, and desire to combine architectural design with new technologies, Pico began to research the use of real-time digital content, ambisonics, interactive sensors and gaming for this space. In 2017 she joined the Art-Technology residency at the New Museum in New York City and launched PIICO, an architecture & multimedia production studio that envisions the future of art, cultural and entertainment spaces - Ultimately a place that combines her curiosities in architectural and virtual design, technology and innovation.
As a young visionary creative, PIICO is excited to be growing its team, and always open to working with other passionate architects, designers, technologists and engineers, with projects currently in New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Sydney, Dubai and China.