Skills

Research
Art Direction
Project Management
Narrative Design
Concept Art
Digital Compositing
Presentation Design

Walt Disney Imagineering:
Imaginations Design Competition

This project was conceived by the University of Florida Team and created for the 2020 Walt Disney Imagineering’s Imaginations Design Competition. This project is the sole property of Walt Disney Imagineering and all rights to use these ideas are exclusive to Walt Disney Imagineering. The competition is a way for students and recent graduates to showcase their talents and for Walt Disney Imagineering to identify new talent. Our project was awarded Semifinalist standing.

As the Team Lead, I led the Art Direction of the project and wrote the narrative. I also designed the project submission presentation.

Team Members:

Mia Lestorti (Team Lead), Karen Polanco (Architect), Christopher West (Mechanical Engineer), Mila Gajic (Artist)

Our Story

Discover Itori, a place where students and residents alike can gather to connect with nature and one another. Nestled on the side of our campus lake, this installation invites guests to walk alongside local wildlife in a new, immersive environment. The unique location of this installation provides us with the history of its Native American culture and their traditional storytelling vessels of petroglyphs, or rock art. A prominent petroglyph across most tribes is the spiral. This powerful symbol is an ancient representation of a never ending journey and the evolution of life. Inspired by this idea, Itori transports guests around a central point while delivering a message of oneness with the Earth.

Throughout Itori, guests are encouraged to explore and interact with their surroundings. By combining projection mapping, motion activated lighting systems and advanced water works, guests are able to find meaning within every step of their journey. The path culminates in a large reflection point were guests can rest and enjoy the beauty that surrounds them.

Story Behind the Design

Modeled after the spiral petroglyph, Itori positions you within the history of the Native Americans that once occupied this land. Its intentional design and construction invites guests to share in the tribe’s guiding principle of the ‘love of nature and strength of spirit’. Itori’s open ceilings and airy walls provide a frame in which to view the land.

By using natural building materials such as adobe brick and rammed earth, this installation forms a relationship with the lakeside environment. Within this framework, guests are seen as pieces of this spiral of life, interconnected with the natural world around them. By traveling through the twisting path, guests become part of these native principles by creating a continuous circle. With each turn, guests travel up to the peak only to be led back down to its central core. The continuous motion symbolizes the continuity of life on Earth.

Guest Experience

Dynamic both day and night, the experience had at Itori is continuously evolving. When traveling this path under the sun, guests can interact with the petroglyphs and wildlife depictions carved onto its grey, brick walls. After dusk, the experience is transformed to one full of life and color. Those same animals are suddenly moving alongside each guest throughout their journey.

Itori’s path walls are perforated and open to the sky in order to extend the guest’s view as they wrap around the formation. These animals take on the role of your guide and act as an inspiration to continue on your individual adventure. Resting at two points on the topmost level, guests may pause to engage with each learning point where they can learn more about the local environment and what their impact can be. An alternative path through to the core of the structure is available to accommodate guests with limited mobility. The same experience will be had on this path.

As the path spirals down to the center, guests discover a place of pure, natural beauty. Seating along the walls embolden guests to pause here. A path through the center structure provides a chance to finally view the Itori, Timucuan for alligator, swimming below them in a quiet, darkened space perfect for personal reflection of the time you’ve spent here.

The Itori

Within the reflection point, guests are welcomed in to view the ‘Itori or alligators’. Hidden projectors at the top of the wall form the illusion of gators swimming by your side. During the day, sunlight comes in through slits created by the space between the overhead and rammed wall, this light creates water reflections and provides a quiet space for thought and remembrance.

Full Project Submission Below