Get Up Close to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unrealized Buildings with David Romero’s Digital Models

Among the world’s most influential architects, Frank Lloyd Wright is undoubtedly a titan of the discipline. His designs are instantly recognizable for his unique treatment of space, light, materials, and line, and he’s even responsible for entire architectural movements. The Prairie style, for example, took inspiration from the broad landscapes of the American Midwest. He also coined the term “organic architecture” to describe how experiencing a built environment should manifest as “a ‘thinking’ as well as a ‘feeling’ process.”

The Prairie style was considered the first uniquely American architectural style, later evolving into a philosophy Wright called Usonia that privileged locally available materials, practicality, connection to nature, and a strong visual continuity between the interior and exterior. The iconic Fallingwater in Pennsylvania, for example, is a bit of a hybrid of Prairie and Usonian styles. Later, he incorporated motifs from a variety of sources, like Mayan stone carvings and “textile block” elements. His oeuvre ranges from small-scale, single-story dwellings to gleaming, futuristic complexes.

For architect and 3D designer David Romero, Wright’s work has been a source of inspiration since his earliest explorations within the field. “From the very beginning, I was drawn to his ability to bridge two seemingly opposite worlds: the rational and intellectual side of architecture, and the emotional—almost spiritual—experience of space,” Romero tells Colossal. “To me, that union is the essence of what makes architecture truly powerful—and no one embodies it quite like Wright.”

Of course, the acclaimed architect’s imagination and commissions weren’t restricted to the residential sphere. Wright conceived of the spiraling interior and glowing white facade of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan and SC Johnson’s soaring Administration Headquarters in Racine, Wisconsin, among many other seminal commercial and institutional buildings. Throughout his career, Wright designed a whopping 1,114 structures of all kinds — bridges, skyscrapers, banks, churches, car dealerships, social housing, and more — 532 of which came to fruition.

Romero’s ongoing project called Hooked on the Past explores architecture of bygone eras that nevertheless richly influences our built environment today. The Madrid-based designer has created nearly two dozen digital renderings of Wright’s unrealized concepts, from astonishing cliffside homes to an insurance company headquarters to a bank with an apparently too-ahead-of-its-time drive-thru.

Wright conceived of one of his most monumental and awe-inspiring concepts for Chicago: a mile-high skyscraper titled “The Illinois” that initially included 528 stories—later edited to 365—and would have been four times the height of the Empire State Building. The architect shared the idea in his 1957 book, The Testament, asserting that it was technically possible, even with the technology available at that time, to construct a building of that scope and scale.

“Hooked on the Past emerged from the intersection of two personal passions: the history of architecture and the fascinating world of computer-generated imagery,” Romero says. He continues:

These two fields, though seemingly different, complement each other in powerful ways. On one hand, I’ve always been drawn to the stories, styles, and cultural contexts behind architectural works. On the other, I’ve been deeply interested in the creative and technical potential of digital tools to visualize ideas and environments.

Romero typically initializes his workflow by building a model in AutoCAD, which he then exports to 3ds Max modeling software. Using a plugin called V-Ray, he refines the visual quality of the scene by adding realistic textures, lighting effects, vegetation, and terrain.

“This is the stage where the project truly starts to come alive, moving beyond a technical model to something with atmosphere and emotional resonance,” he says. From there, he finishes with a few post-production tweaks in Photoshop to make the entire image as cohesive as possible.

“(Wright’s) work speaks not just to the mind, through its structural ingenuity and innovative use of materials, but also to the heart,” Romero says. “There’s a poetic quality in his designs—a deep sensitivity to nature, light, and human experience—that continues to move me, no matter how many times I return to his buildings or drawings.”

Romero collaborates regularly with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, which promotes and preserves the architect’s work and legacy. Romero’s digital recreations have been published annually in the organization’s quarterly magazine, which allows him to explore a wide range of unrealized projects.

“Each year, together with the Foundation’s editorial team, we choose a central theme that serves as a unifying thread for the visualizations featured in that special issue,” he says. “In previous years, we’ve focused on a variety of building types and periods of his career, but this year’s theme is especially intriguing to me: temples.”

Keep an eye on Romero’s website for updates.

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Explore Storytelling Through 300 Years of Quilts in ‘Fabric of a Nation’

While we often associate quilts with their function as bedspreads or an enjoyable hobby, the roots of the craft run very deep. The art form has long been associated with storytelling, and numerous styles have enabled makers to share cultural symbols, memories, and autobiographical details through vibrant color and pattern.

African American quilters have significantly influenced the practice since the 17th century, when enslaved people began sewing scraps of fabric to make blankets for warmth. Through artists like Harriet Powers in the 19th century or the Gee’s Bend Quilters, this powerful mode of expression lives on in rich tapestries and textile works being made today.

A new exhibition titled Fabric of a Nation: American Quilt Stories from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston opens this week at the Frist Art Museum, surveying nearly 50 quilts from the MFA’s collection. Works span the 19th through 21st centuries, with bold textiles by contemporary artists like Bisa Butler included alongside Civil War-era examples and commemorative album quilts.

Stories play a starring role in Fabric of a Nation, which delves into the socio-political contexts in which the pieces were made and how narrative, symbolism, and autobiography shaped their compositions. For example, a unique Civil War quilt completed by an unknown maker in 1864 repurposes fabric from Zouave uniforms. Small panels featuring birds, soldiers on horseback, and the American flag transport us to a time when the U.S. had been at war for three years.

Another fascinating piece is another flag composition in which the stripes have been stitched with dozens of names, including Susan B. Anthony near the top of one of the central columns. Known as the “Hoosier Suffrage Quilt,” it’s thought to chronicle suffrage supporters.

More recently, Michael C. Thorpe’s untitled work features the bold appliquéd words “Black Man” over pieced batik fabrics. Butler’s large-scale “To God and Truth” is a colorful reimagining of an 1899 photograph. She transforms a black-and-white image into a vibrant, patterned portrait of the African American baseball team of Morris Brown College, Atlanta.

Fabric of a Nation opens on June 27 and continues through October 12 in Nashville. Find more and plan your visit on the museum’s website. You might also enjoy exploring more quilts by Black Southern makers or Stephen Townes’ embroidered tableaux of leisure in the Jim Crow South.

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Ireland’s Oldest and Largest Medieval Book Shrine Goes on Public View for the First Time

In an unassuming lake in Ireland’s northern County Longford, an unprecedented find emerged in 1986. Thanks to the sediments in the body of water, pieces of a unique, highly decorated metal object dating to the 9th century were remarkably preserved. And now, after a 39-year conservation project, the nation’s oldest and largest medieval book shrine is now on view.

Known as the Lough Kinale Book Shrine after its namesake lake, the object features a series of medallions with precious stone inserts, along with embellished metalwork in the form of a cross. Part of the exhibition Words on the Wave: Ireland and St. Gallen in Early Medieval Europe at the National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street, the stunning artifact is complemented by a number of pieces contemporary to its day.

The shrine’s metal is bronze and encompasses an oak container, which would have held a treasured manuscript associated with a Christian saint. Used to convey the volume to various ceremonial activities, it also would have originally featured a leather strap to make it easier to transport.

Words on the Wave also includes a Viking sword uncovered in the River Shannon in Limerick and a beautiful example of a medieval brooch-pin, the Ardshanbally Brooch, which dates to the 8th or 9th century.

Thanks to scientific analysis, manuscripts on loan from the Abbey Library in St. Gall, Switzerland, have also been confirmed to have originated in Ireland. Researchers determined that the vellum pages were made from the hides of Irish cattle, and monks traveled with the books to Switzerland more than a thousand years ago. This exhibition marks the first time in more than a millennium that the illuminated tomes have resided in Ireland.

Words on the Wave continues in Dublin through October 24. Learn more and plan your visit on the museum’s website.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Ireland’s Oldest and Largest Medieval Book Shrine Goes on Public View for the First Time appeared first on Colossal.