Mendoza Rodriguez’s illustration reinterprets architecture
Architect and illustrator Johana Mendoza Rodriguez 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 Rodriguez’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
Mendoza Rodriguez recontextualizes architectural landmarks
Based in Quito, Ecuador, Johana Mendoza Rodriguez 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