AVATAR ACADEMY VISUAL DEVELOPMENT PORTFOLIO
by KENSEI MORITA
Korra Era - FIre Fountain City Visual Development
HINO YAMA BATHHOUSE - COLOR KEY
Nestled among the peaks of Fire Fountain City lies a famous avant-garde bathhouse, one of the most sought after tourist spots in all of the Fire Nation. Its steamy hot spring waters contain powerful, spiritually rejuvenating properties from Suhon Island's special hallucinogenic gasses that lie below the land. What's more, intimate fire shows light up the night, artfully performed by Fire Dancers trained in the traditions of the Sun Warriors and wielding fires imbued with a signature blend of the gas. Whether you come as a once in a lifetime trip, a romantic getaway, or an every day luxury, the Hino Yama Bathhouse is an experience you'll never forget.
FIRE FOUNTAIN CITY - “RACE TO THE BATHHOUSE” - COLOR ROUGH
In this peaceful and festive town, our Avatar clashes with a radical fire bending vigilante in an ideological power struggle over the city's darker history.
I wanted to explore the Fire Nation in a new context and we haven’t seen much of it in the Korra era. One location in particular that drew my eye was Fire Fountain City. After doing a deeper lore dive and finding out about Suhon Island's unique mind-bending gasses (pun intended), I came up with the idea to design a spiritual bathhouse in Fire Fountain City.
For the architecture, I began by pulling Korra references and 1920s Shanghai, where I also noticed a flavor that carried an interesting likeness to Rome or Greece. So I mixed together a Greek and Japanese inspired bathhouse with traditional Shanghai rooftops to develop a modern era Fire Nation style.
VIEW FROM HINO YAMA - CONCEPT
For the street view concept, I decided to gather reference from the Nanshi district in old Shanghai and Kyoto's Sannezaka. I wanted to design a festive town that feels warm and inviting in the post war era, like a second chance was given to a city with a rough history. But that history could also be put to good use to make this setting more plot driven. So I came up with a unique situation that Avatar Korra might've faced as people look to use the gasses for their own twisted purposes. An intense high speed chase through warm and charming streets up to the Hino Yama Bathhouse sounded pretty fun!