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Dorotea
World Building Project
1. Concept & Core Inspiration
Dorotea was the first major project of my academic journey, developed during my first semester. Inspired by Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, this imagined urban world merges architecture, narrative, and symbolism into one coherent system. From the beginning, I conceived Dorotea as a living organism, a place shaped by layered memories and mythologies yet directed toward a speculative future. This philosophical approach guided every aspect of the project: the city’s buildings, its characters, its vehicles, and the symbolic language that defines its culture.
2. World Philosophy
The central idea behind Dorotea is that a city is both a physical environment and a psychological space. It reflects the dreams, anxieties, and rituals of the people who inhabit it. My design positions Dorotea between different temporalities: ancient in its symbolic foundations, futuristic in its technologies and materials, and timeless in the emotional atmosphere that surrounds it. Rather than pursuing realism, the project focuses on mood, exploring how a city can become a character in its own story.
3. Visual Development & Drawing Process (Procreate)
A significant portion of the work was developed through hand-drawn illustrations in Procreate. These drawings established the visual tone of Dorotea, including its architectural silhouettes, color language, and sense of daily life. Tall monoliths, floating platforms, and geometric forms defined the city’s skyline, while scenes and objects illustrated how its inhabitants interact with their environment. These illustrations became the conceptual backbone of the project, informing the 3D work and the broader narrative.
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4. 3D Modeling & Digital Construction (Maya)
To complement the drawing phase, I created several essential elements of the world in Maya. This included both environmental structures and vehicle designs, focusing on form, materiality, and coherence with the city’s visual language. One of the standout creations was a Lamborghini-inspired spacecraft, reinterpreting the iconic automotive silhouette as a compact futuristic vehicle. I also designed a stylized sci-fi motorcycle, merging mechanical detail with a clean, futuristic aesthetic. These models helped ground Dorotea in a tangible reality and supported the idea of a city defined by movement and exploration.
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5. Characters & Cultural Identity
The project required not only the design of the city but also the invention of the people who inhabit it. Through illustrations, I created a cast of characters who reflected Dorotea’s emotional tone. They are wanderers, inventors, and contemplative figures shaped by the city’s quiet tension between serenity and dynamism. To deepen the cultural identity of Dorotea, I invented an original symbolic language composed of geometric combinations. This language appears in signage, architectural details, clothing, and ritual objects, helping establish Dorotea as a fully realized civilization with its own internal logic.
6. Narrative Structure
Dorotea does not follow a single linear storyline. Instead, it offers a narrative atmosphere: a city inhabited by individuals searching for meaning, a world where technology is both elegant and enigmatic, and a place where every structure or object hints at deeper stories. The ambiguity is intentional, inviting the viewer to discover the world rather than having it explained.
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6. Narrative Structure
Dorotea does not follow a single linear storyline. Instead, it offers a narrative atmosphere: a city inhabited by individuals searching for meaning, a world where technology is both elegant and enigmatic, and a place where every structure or object hints at deeper stories. The ambiguity is intentional, inviting the viewer to discover the world rather than having it explained.
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7. Final Reflections
Dorotea was my first comprehensive exploration of worldbuilding. It allowed me to combine drawing, digital modeling, storytelling, and conceptual thinking into one integrated project. More than an academic exercise, it became the foundation for my interest in designing cities not merely as environments but as systems of meaning. Dorotea showed me how architecture, symbols, characters, and technology can intertwine to form a complete narrative ecosystem. It remains one of the essential milestones in my development as a digital artist and storyteller.