Thierry Lechanteur Recreates Gaudí’s Unbuilt Hotel Attraction

Antoni Gaudí never built a skyscraper in New York, but more than a century later, artificial intelligence is offering a glimpse into what might have been. To mark the 100th anniversary of the Catalan architect’s death, Belgian AI artist Thierry Lechanteur has reimagined Gaudí’s unbuilt “Hotel Attraction”, transforming one of architecture’s most intriguing lost projects into a series of striking digital visualizations.

Originally conceived in 1908, “Hotel Attraction” was envisioned as an extraordinary hospitality complex commissioned by two American businessmen for an unspecified site in Lower Manhattan. Although the project never progressed beyond the drawing board, it proposed a dramatic cluster of nine towers rising to a height of 360 metres, an astonishing ambition for its time and a vision that would have dramatically altered New York’s skyline.

Lechanteur’s images bring this forgotten proposal back into public view, imagining the tower not as a precise reconstruction but as a contemporary interpretation rooted in Gaudí’s distinctive architectural language. Drawing from historical sketches, written descriptions and academic research, the artist developed a visual narrative that extends the spirit of the project rather than attempting to reproduce a definitive version of it.

The renders depict a soaring central tower crowned by a star-shaped summit, surrounded by a series of smaller structures that rise like a sculpted mountain range. Characteristic Gaudí elements, organic forms, flowing curves and richly textured surfaces, replace the glass-and-steel vocabulary that dominates contemporary skyscrapers. The result feels both futuristic and strangely nostalgic, as if belonging to an alternate version of New York that never came to exist.

Interest in the project has surged online since the images were shared on social media, resonating with audiences fascinated by unrealized architecture. Lechanteur describes the work as an exploration of “a future that never happened,” reflecting the emotional power of projects that remained suspended between imagination and reality.

Although “Hotel Attraction” is now considered one of Gaudí’s most ambitious unbuilt designs, the proposal remained largely unknown until 1956, when details were published by his collaborator Joan Matamala in the book “When the New World Called Gaudí”. Decades later, the project re-emerged in architectural discourse when historians proposed it as part of a design concept for the redevelopment of the former World Trade Center site.

The reasons behind the project’s abandonment remain uncertain. Some accounts suggest that the design was considered too radical to construct, while others point to Gaudí’s declining health or disagreements regarding the intended clientele of the hotel.

Had it been realized, the complex would have included not only hotel accommodations but also theatres, exhibition spaces, restaurants and a panoramic observation tower known as the Space Tower. Gaudí reportedly envisioned a structure built from iron, stone, brick and concrete, enriched with mosaics and glass domes, materials that defined many of his most celebrated works.

More than a century after its conception, “Hotel Attraction” continues to occupy a unique place in architectural history. Through Lechanteur’s AI-generated imagery, the project reappears not as a lost monument, but as a compelling reminder of how visionary architecture can continue to inspire long after it has faded from reality.