9 Unbuilt Frank Lloyd Wright Project Are Finally Brought to Life
Spanish architect David Romero uses computer-generated models to show how Frank Lloyd Wright’s structures would’ve appeared
By Laura Ratliff and Katherine McLaughlin Photography by David Romero
Of the more than 1,100 structures that Frank Lloyd Wright designed throughout his lifetime, more than half—a whopping 660 buildings—remained unbuilt and mostly unknown. And this figure doesn’t even consider some of the architect’s work that was tragically demolished. However, thanks to a collaboration between Spanish architect David Romero and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, fans of the prolific architect can now see what Wright’s unbuilt or demolished projects look like in 3D renderings, as if they had been built or rebuilt. Romero and the foundation first partnered in 2018 to bring six of the visionary’s unbuilt work to life and recently came together again to produce three more renderings for the most recent issue of The Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly, a print magazine from The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.
“While we will never know the true experience of visiting an unbuilt Wright design, these renderings can convey a bit more sense of space and light than the drawings alone,” Stuart Graff, president and CEO of the foundation, told AD in 2018. In the latest iterations of renderings, Romero focused specifically on Wright’s unbuilt skyscrapers, including his vision for a mile-high tower in Chicago. Here, AD looks at these nine structures designed by the genius architect, offering a glimpse into a world of architecture never materialized.