disney's animated characters reimagine iconic architectural landmarks

Johana Mendoza’s illustration reinterprets architecture

Architect and illustrator Johana Mendoza reinterprets architecture through narrative illustration, transforming built forms into visual stories. Her work explores how light, color, and composition can translate spatial qualities into emotional and cultural meaning.

Mendoza’s drawings often merge precise architectural representation with elements of fantasy, at times juxtaposing familiar cultural references, such as Disney’s animated characters, with celebrated works of architecture. Through this lens, she examines the intersection of memory, imagination, and design, presenting architecture as both a physical and narrative construct.

Salk Institute | all illustrations by Johana Carolina Mendoza Rodriguez

Johana Mendoza recontextualizes architectural landmarks

Based in Quito, Ecuador, Johana Mendoza studied architecture at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (PUCE). Her practice combines technical accuracy with interpretive storytelling, highlighting how drawing can extend beyond documentation to become a reflective and expressive medium.

By recontextualizing landmarks and everyday structures alike, the designer emphasizes architecture’s capacity to evoke emotion, bridge cultural narratives, and engage viewers through visual dialogue. Her illustrations operate between art and design, suggesting that the representation of architecture can function as a poetic language, one that connects the tangible with the imagined.

Cuadra San Cristóbal

Space Needle

Kaufmann Desert House

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

The Museu de Arte de São Paulo

Geisel Library

Barcelona Pavilion

Farnsworth House

Lovell Health House

project info:

name: Architectural Illustrations
illustrator: Johana Carolina Mendoza Rodriguez

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom