‘Lost' NYC Skyscraper Design Finally Brought to Life After 118 Years
More than a century after Antoni Gaudí conceived one of his greatest unbuilt projects-a fantastical skyscraper known as Hotel Attraction-the tower has been reimagined by an artist through a series of artificial intelligence (AI) renderings.
Designed by the architect behind Barcelona’s famed Sagrada Família, the proposed New York City hotel was never constructed. But these images from artist, photographer, and graphic designer Thierry Lechanteur offer a glimpse of how the soaring Art Nouveau-inspired tower might have appeared on the Manhattan skyline, a project described as "one of history’s great architectural ‘what ifs,'" Lechanteur told Newsweek.
The renewed interest in one of Gaudí’s most ambitious projects coincides with the centenary of his death on June 10, 1926, as well as significant progress on the architect’s most famous work-the Sagrada Familia.
Construction on the Sagrada Família basilica began in 1882 before Gaudí took over the project in 1883 and transformed it into what the church describes as “an ambitious proposal for the church of the future.” In February, builders added the upper arm of a cross to the pinnacle crowning the Tower of Jesus Christ. The historic structure, the tallest church in the world, is expected to be completed within the next decade.
AI in Architecture
Lechanteur's reimagining of Gaudí's New York City skyscraper comes at a time when AI is increasingly influencing the architecture profession.
A 2025 study from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) found that architects are most optimistic about AI’s ability to automate manual tasks and assist with research, but concerns about accuracy and transparency remain.
The AIA report found that nearly all (90 percent) of architectural professionals are concerned about inaccuracies in AI outputs that create misleading information, the misuse of data and models, data security, transparency about where and how data is stored, and authenticity.
Meanwhile, a 2025 report by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) found that 59 percent of architecture practices surveyed were using AI, up from 41 percent in 2024. It concluded that AI is likely to augment rather than replace architects’ work.
According to the AIA, the experimentation and use of AI are driven mostly by architects aged 50 or younger, with "significantly more" architects under 35 reported to have used image generators.
Bringing a ‘Lost' Landmark Back to Life
Lechanteur told Newsweek that his fascination with architecture and Art Nouveau made Hotel Attraction a natural subject.
“My background is in photography, graphic design and, above all, a long fascination with architecture and Art Nouveau. Long before I began working with AI, I spent years photographing buildings and exploring how they tell stories,” he said.
His work now focuses on “alternative realities” and imagined worlds, often exploring “forgotten futures, impossible architectures and parallel histories.” In that context, he said, “Hotel Attraction belongs to that world.”
Explaining why he chose to recreate the “lost” tower, Lechanteur described the project as “one of history’s great architectural ‘what ifs.'”
“For thirty years I have photographed buildings that exist; this gave me the chance to photograph one that never did,” he said. “AI let me not invent something new, but reconstruct a believable memory of something the world almost had-to give the tower light, weather, and presence, as if it had always been standing.”
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Hotel Attraction-Gaudí's Unbuilt Surreal NYC Landmark
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A Design Ahead of Its Time
Lechanteur believes the proposed skyscraper stood apart from the architectural trends emerging during the early 20th century for "its verticality without rigidity."
He explained: “Just as skyscrapers were becoming symbols of geometry, efficiency and repetition, Gaudí imagined a tower that seemed alive, built on parabolas and catenary curves.”
According to Lechanteur, the design anticipated concepts that became widespread much later, including “organic form, fluid structure, and the emotional experience of space rather than pure function.”
Had the tower been built, he suggested it might have altered the trajectory of skyscraper design in New York.
“New York became the cathedral of the right angle,” he said. “Hotel Attraction would have introduced a different grammar, a vertical that curves and breathes.” While it is impossible to know whether other architects would have followed Gaudí’s lead, he said the building “would certainly have challenged the architectural vocabulary of the 20th century.”
For Lechanteur, the tower’s enduring appeal lies in what it says about unrealized possibilities.
“It is not nostalgia for the past, but nostalgia for a future, one that remained trapped in the imagination,” he said. “Through AI, I wanted to make that forgotten future briefly visible again, not by rewriting history, but by inviting people to imagine how different our collective visual memory might have been.”
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Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Sirena Bergman and Sam Wilson.
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This story was originally published July 1, 2026 at 10:53 AM.