City of Andria
Inspired by Invisible Cities (1972) by Italo Calvino
2026. Bristol Paper. 24 in x 8.5 in.
Invisible Cities (1972) by Italo Calvino describes imaginary cities exploring themes of memory, desire, order, and reality. Cities & Sky 5, also known as the City of Andria, explores community and how it manifests and reflects in both the stars above and the city around them. Life in Andria mirrors the heavens, using celestial bodies as guides, while its construction is planned to a tee, as “each change implies a sequence of other changes in Andria as among the stars: the city and the sky never remain the same.”
Using reflection, celestial bodies, and light as inspiration, the initial framework centered on a collage of celestial body outlines, including constellation patterns, the moon, and the Milky Way galaxy; then, it was trimmed along the outlines, and a light source was added to reflect the punctures from the physical model to the dark stretches of a wall, like the city itself.
The accompanying poster focuses on the physical model and integrates typography, blending Gotham, a sans-serif font, and the background seamlessly by experimenting with opacity and the blending modes. The fully opaque, Andria, text contrasts against the black background like a light source and is accompanied by a bolder, scaled-up, and less opaque typeface to ‘reflect’ how shadows might reflect outward.
Keywords: Graphic Design, Speculative Architecture, Typography, Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities, Physical Model, Model Making, Light & Shadow, Shadow Projection, Gotham Typeface, Reflection
