GROUND ZEROby gio

CREATIVE INTELLIGENCE / APPLIED

GROUND ZERO

by gio

A starting point
for what comes next.

Architecture. Creative exploration.
AI workflow consulting.

Explore the work

Your guide to the work. Your connection to Gio.

Hover over the stars to awaken the presence. Voice begins only when you choose to talk.

A classical face formed from points. A kinetic field of bronze panels dissolves into fragments as the page unfolds.

Arrow keys turn and shape the field. Home follows the page. Space pauses motion.

IDEAS / SPACES / SYSTEMS / POSSIBILITIESG-O / GOLF OSCAR
DESIGN / WORKFLOWS / AIHUMAN INTENT. EXPANDED POSSIBILITY.

SELECTED WORK

Practice and exploration.

Ideas, made tangible.

Project contributions with Steelman Partners, alongside independent studies in movement, light, and shared space.

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

In practice.

Selected projects I’ve contributed to at Steelman Partners.

WITHSteelman Partners, opens in a new tab

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

CASINO + HOSPITALITY

Ellis Island

Casino expansion

MY CONTRIBUTION

Architectural documentation, consultant coordination, and construction administration, including RFIs and submittal reviews.

SONOMA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

RESORT + LANDSCAPE

River Rock

Resort development + screening studies

MY CONTRIBUTION

Design studies, screening and sightline development, and coordination across architectural and consultant teams.

MT. CHARLESTON, NEVADA

MOUNTAIN HOSPITALITY

Mt. Charleston

Lodge cabins

MY CONTRIBUTION

Cabin planning, material exploration, schematic design development, and consultant coordination.

Team projects at Steelman Partners

INDEPENDENT EXPLORATIONS

Visual work.

Spaces, objects, and material studies.

Bronze ceiling panels suspended in a sunlit gallery above a dark stone floor. KINETIC SPACEField. View image A blackened steel floor light with a narrow warm slot, bronze reflector, and pale stone base. LIGHT + MATTERThreshold. View image A circular stone bench around a desert tree, with a square opening framing the landscape. SPACE + EXCHANGECommon Ground. View image Warm optical points reveal a soft human silhouette through a concrete wall. LIGHT + MATTERORIGINS. View image

Independent concept imagery.

SELECTED VIEWS / 01–04

More from ORIGINS04 more views
A courtyard with angular Corten beams, inclined glazing, plants, a bench, and fissured stone. ORIGINSCourtyard. View image Weathered copper leaves mounted on horizontal rods in a Corten courtyard. ORIGINSCopper + air. View image A dark mineral chamber with an overhead water reservoir, falling veil, and reflecting pool. ORIGINSWater + reflection. View image An ORIGINS concept with weathered steel and concrete, horizontal glazing, and desert planting at sunset. ORIGINSDesert exterior. View desert exterior image
FieldKinetic space

A ceiling that behaves like a surface of water. Individual plates turn, rise, and catch light as one continuous field.

Independent concept + interactive geometric prototype

The question

Can a repeated square feel fluid without losing its simple geometry?

What we made

A 49-element digital model explores alignment, wave, and twist. The gallery image tests its atmosphere as a larger spatial installation.

What comes next

Test panel clearances, suspension details, and a physical actuation system. The model explores movement; it does not yet resolve engineering.

ThresholdLight + matter

A dark plane, a narrow cut, and a warm line of light. A lighting object that changes the way a quiet corner feels.

The question

How little form does a light need to give a space character?

What we made

An original material and proportion study in blackened steel, bronze, and stone. AI-assisted visualization lets us consider the object and the light it casts together.

What comes next

Develop a dimensioned model, test the reflector angle, and resolve stability, heat, and access to the light source.

Common GroundSpace + exchange

A small courtyard for a larger conversation. A shared circle, a framed landscape, and enough quiet to pay attention.

The question

What might a place for informal learning look like without a front of the room?

What we made

An independent pavilion concept organized around a tree and a continuous gathering edge. Concrete, stone, shade, and a single framed view define the atmosphere.

What comes next

Test a plan for comfortable access and conversation, study the shade through the day, and develop the concept against a real site.

01.B / CONTINUING THREADS

Ideas outside the drawing set.

Music and ORIGINS extend the same design process into sound, memory, culture, and place.

N.01Beyond the image Music / AI-assisted explorationLyrics, texture, rhythm. Ideas taking another form.
Fine bronze contours suspended as a flowing, organic form.
SOUND / FORMAt rest

A LISTENING ROOM

Give the idea
a different voice.

Songwriting starts with something worth saying. Lyrics, vocal character, and arrangement become material to shape, listen to, and refine.

AI opens up ways to hear an idea. The direction still comes from the story, and the decision to keep listening, rewriting, or starting again.

01 / WORDS

Find the phrase worth building around.

02 / TEXTURE

Explore the voice, the space, and the arrangement.

03 / FEELING

Listen for what carries the story. Refine what doesn’t.

ORIGINS concept: weathered steel and board-formed concrete above desert planting at sunset.N.02ORIGINS Culture / Geology / MemoryA portal to a place’s heritage. Explore three cities across time and four living material studies.

THE APPROACH

How I think and work.

More ways to think.
Better reasons to make.

Four lenses for exploring AI, applying it to real work, and staying thoughtful about what we create.

P / 01

Process

Make the steps visible. Show the starting point, the changes, and the decisions along the way.

P / 02

Practice

Bring the tools into real tasks. Learn where they help and where experience needs to take over.

P / 03

Possibility

Try the direction there wasn’t time to test. Explore another medium. Give an unexpected idea room.

P / 04

Philosophy

Ask why it matters, who it serves, and what should stay human. Let those answers shape the work.

GROUND ZERO / POSSIBILITIES FOR YOUR BUSINESS

Spaces. Brands. Digital tools.

See your next project, launch, or workflow take shape. Explore visual concepts, websites, creative content, and useful tools.

Explore the possibilities

CREATIVE INTELLIGENCE / APPLIED

Start with the work you actually do.

Bring a recurring task, a design challenge, or an idea you haven’t found a way to explain. Together, we can identify a useful starting point for AI, test it, and develop a process you understand well enough to use yourself.

Talk through an idea on LinkedIn, opens in a new tab

THE PERSON BEHIND THE PRACTICE

What shaped the point of view.

Composite portrait of Gio looking down, with Marine dress blues on the left blending into a white Oxford shirt on the right.
DREW GIOVANNI SOLACHELAS VEGAS, NV

A few different lives.
One growing practice.

You can call me Gio.

NOW / GROUND ZERO

Everything comes with me.

The responsibility learned in service. The care for people sharpened in hospitality. The curiosity that became architecture and AI. Ground Zero is where those experiences come together, and where the next idea begins.

Meet Gio

AN OPEN INVITATION

Where a conversation can begin.

Bring your curiosity.
Let’s build from there.

Exploring AI in your practice? Working through a design idea? Learning something worth sharing? Let’s compare notes.

Connect with Gio on LinkedIn, opens in a new tab

CONVERSATIONS CONTINUE ON LINKEDIN

VISUAL WORK 01 / 08

Visual work