By Christian Narkiewicz-Laine

Chicago, Illinois

What was destined to be the magnificent tallest new skyscraper in the United States by European Prize for Architecture laureate Santiago Calatrava has now met its sad and sealed fate.

Known as the “Chicago Spire” and partially constructed in 2007 before the real estate market crash of 2008 by the defunct Irish developer Garrett Kelleher of Shelbourne Development Group, the 600-meter, 116-story supertall building would have risen majestically on its narrow lot at 400 North Lake Shore Drive right at the edge of Chicago’s Lake Michigan.

Chicago Mayor Daley approved the design, stating that it was “environmentally friendly.”

Burton F. Natarus, who was the 42nd-ward alderman when the building was announced, said, “This is a very unique opportunity for the city of Chicago. This building belongs to Chicago and should be in Chicago.”

Donald Trump immediately voiced opposition to the building, stating that the tall structure would be a target for terrorists and did not even seem to be a viable project. 

For sure, Calatrava’s design carried on the tradition of Chicago’s skyscrapers as innovative sculptural structures and the “tallest in the world” architecture legacy.

As with many of his designs, Calatrava was poetically inspired by themes and designs in nature for the tall, twisting skyscraper.

He likened the Spire to an imaginary smoke spiral coming from a campfire near the Chicago River lit by Native Americans indigenous to the area, and also related the building’s newly designed pinnacle to the “graceful” and “rotating forms” of a snail shell.

“Chicago is an Indian name, and I can imagine in the oldest time the Native Americans arriving at the lake and making a fire, with a tiny column of smoke going up in the air,” stated Calatrava.

“With this simple gesture of turning one floor a little past another, you can achieve this form.”

Standing at 2,000 feet (610 m), the Chicago Spire would have further transformed the always-growing Chicago skyline.

But that dream has now faded.

At the end of this year, two “sister skyscrapers” by David Childs and SOM with developer The Related Group will start construction on a new building site where the Chicago Spire would have risen.

Child’s new project composed of plastic forms will soon overlook the lake, positioned in the middle of a new urban park—and as the end of a Chicago peak and the beginning of Calatrava’s dead dream in America.