Courtesy of William Gibson, we have Antonio Gaudi’s vision for the World Trade Center site. A thousand-foot “American Hotel”, topped by a grand observatory, a theatre, and an exhibition hall, all in Gaudi’s trademark organic style.

Gaudi planned to travel to New York City to oversee the construction of the hotel with its huge halls, balconies, and the decorations he would improvise from debris discovered on New York City’s streets. He was hoping to hire, as he did in Catalonia, an army of artists and architects, in this case from New York, to bring the interior and exterior detailing of his fantastic vision to fruition.

That was 1908. Before the Empire State Building. Before the Woolworth Building. Before, in fact, the skyscraper, as we know it.

Gaudi’s journey to New York was cancelled abruptly... the project stopped with no reason given. The site remained unchanged until the early 1960s. While the reasons for the abandonment of the project remain the ultimate enigma of this enterprise, it might be safe to surmise that this vision of Gaudi was ahead of its time.

Today we could build it, though. Today it would be easy.