Wright Chat

Three unbuilt Frank Lloyd Wright skyscraper projects brought to life by 3D imagery


David

David Romero strikes again! This is as close as we will ever get to seeing these 3 magnificent buildings.
Of the 3, the insurance building is the finest, especially since it is the only one that could easily have been built. At lunch one day ~60 years ago, Ralph Rapson said the entire loop of Chicago would have to be demolished to provide access roads to the mile high tower. As to Crystal Heights, all concerned should have known about the height restriction before work on the plan began, and that there was no chance that there would be an exception made. That phony dome must tower over everything!

The Mile High Illinois should have been designed for a remote rural site---a centerpiece (or corner-piece) of a future Broadacre City ?

S

Thanks, guys!

Modeling such large projects is exhausting... and one never manages to add enough detail to make it look completely real.

An option that I had in mind was to show The Illinois in Broadacre, but placing it in the city of Chicago is a much more powerful image.

When modeling The Illinois a detail that intrigued me are the "suspension rods" because FLLW did not draw any details of how they would be. I imagine the concept is something similar to this:



But contrary to what Norman Foster does showing off those structural tie rods in all their glory, it seems that Wright intended to hide them in the exterior carpentry of the tower::

https://library.artstor.org/#/asset/286 ... 4063318614






Note: These images were intended for the cover of the FLLW Foundation's quarterly magazine, which is why mile-high appears to the right of the image

https://www.dezeen.com/2023/01/18/unbui ... id-romero/

One wonderful thing about Wright is that he is able to design in a recognizable style (for example, always hiding the structure of his buildings) and suddenly he breaks his own "rules" and does something equally spectacular

Was the tower intended to be that golden? I had only seen drawings of it with mirrored glass and the blue sky reflected.

The façade mixes glass with what Wright defined as "gold-colored metal".

In the drawings you can see how the gold color mixes with the blue reflected from the windows



In any case, the specific shade I have used is inevitably speculative.

David wrote: ↑Wed Jan 18, 2023 11:24 am Thanks, guys!

Modeling such large projects is exhausting... and one never manages to add enough detail to make it look completely real.

An option that I had in mind was to show The Illinois in Broadacre, but placing it in the city of Chicago is a much more powerful image.

When modeling The Illinois a detail that intrigued me are the "suspension rods" because FLLW did not draw any details of how they would be. I imagine the concept is something similar to this:


But contrary to what Norman Foster does showing off those structural tie rods in all their glory, it seems that Wright intended to hide them in the exterior carpentry of the tower::

https://library.artstor.org/#/asset/286 ... 4063318614


Note: These images were intended for the cover of the FLLW Foundation's quarterly magazine, which is why mile-high appears to the right of the image

https://www.dezeen.com/2023/01/18/unbui ... id-romero/

Gracias David por tu enorme aporte y tu pasión por el trabajo de Wright. Sigo tus trabajos desde hace años y son un espectáculo. Quería saber si eres parte del grupo de facebook "the Wright Attitude" ? Ahí hay 2 amigos que de igual manera han hecho muchos proyectos de Wright, tanto modelo y renderizado y ellos son Hugo Ávila de Ecuador y Razin Khan de Bangladesh. Hay otro amigo que sería genial colabores con él, se llama Steve Vinzani, él solo hace modelado de gran detalle y se los manda a Hugo o Razin para hacer los renders. Steve tiene muchos proyectos de Wright ya modelados y con mucho detalle como mencioné. Sería muy bueno esa colaboración ya que no tendrías que hacer todo el trabajo de modelado sino dedicarte únicamente a hacer tus impresionantes renders con vray. Saludos desde Ecuador y espero poder ver nuevos proyectos del maestro Wright. Se que eres un arquitecto español muy ocupado pero se que siempre habrá algo nuevo algún momento. Gracias de nuevo por tu enorme aporte.

Thanks, Juan, I'll check it out!

The "suspension rods" have always intrigued me.
I remember reading somewhere when asked about how the Illinois was put together, Wright responding something like: "We don't tell them how we do it."

At some point those rods by necessity would have to connect back to the core at staggered levels.
They would somehow need to turn inward and away from the exterior slope.
The most logical place for that turn to occur would be on the exterior where the rod meets the floor.
But a rod would make that detail complicated, it would need to be spliced or bent.
A cable it seems would be better suited.

VIDEO: story of the presentation of the Mile-High Illinois to Chicago

https://wrkr.com/chicago-mile-high-skyscraper/

Does a cable stretch more readily than a rod of equal weight per foot ?

S

yes