Oceanic Architecture

Inspired by the design timelapse videos from visual artist James White , "Oceanic Architecture" is the entire 15-hour process of The Living Seas Edition in the Epcot Architecture Series.What you will see is every step of the process, from source architectural drawings to failed attempts and all points in between as I struggle to translate its highly sculptural three-dimensional waves into a strictly 2D format.

Logo Series - Sea Base Alpha

In tribute to Paul Gerber’s austerely beautiful “The Sea”, this background depicts the final climatic frames of the film that served as the overture to The Living Seas pavilion. A film in which the last scene speculatively illustrates a futuristic underwater base with a proto-computer-generated model that builds to this image that dramatically transitions into the real “Hydrolators” that transport guests to Sea Base Alpha.
An updated logo of Sea Base Alpha hallmarks the lower portion of the background, which portrays one of the more deeply transcendent objectives of The Living ­­­Seas — interspecies understanding and cooperation.

Designer Notes:

This is actually the culmination of two separate projects. The first, a recreation of the original 1986 CG “wireframe” ending of “The Sea, and the second, a vectorization and (an E82 style) modernization of Sea Base Alpha’s official logo.

The “Wireframe” was reconstructed in vector format using several aligned frames from a low-res source demo of the film. In order to maintain blueprint-like accuracy (and my own sanity) the various elements (doors, railings, rockwork, etc.) were originally color-coded before receiving its final monochromatic treatment.

The SBA Logo was first painstaking vector-traced from a source prop originally used in the attraction, including the original 1986 color scheme. Then was re-colored and “dimensionalized” utilizing only gradients that (in most cases) contain color swatches from the original.            

Try to Imagine ... The Living Seas

Vista Series - Bioluminescence

From its remarkably complex curvilinear exterior to its “incredible voyage of the discovery”, The Living Seas Vista pays tribute to the architecture and effects of what was once “the world’s sixth largest ocean”.  For this edition, defused light rays and water caustics symbolize the remarkable journey from the surface to the depths that welcome us to Sea Base Alpha. 

Designer’s Note: After almost a year hiatus, The Vista Series returns with what will probably be the single most complex line-art for all of Epcot’s 22 pavilions. The Living Seas architecture (just like all other original pavilions) abstractly conveys the theme of the pavilion. In this case, it appears to be constructed entirely of waves frozen into a state of structural rigidity — no easy task for any architect. Nor was it easy for to translate its highly sculptural three-dimensional forms into a strictly 2D format. This process that was especially difficult when one considers that all components of its design flow seamlessly into each other making it particularly challenging to complete a single shape without first considering all others.
Although the structure rightly received most of its accolades for its interior engineering, the exterior is no less impressive and after this experience I have even more respect for the designers and architects at WDI and Montgomery Watson for what they were able to achieve nearly 30 years ago.