BGW. The architecture of the unbuilt. Christo and Jeanne-Claude's Unrealized Projects

Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s unrealized projects were never abandoned dreams—they were fully conceived works that lived through drawings, models, and vision. For them, the process was the artwork: from the first sketch to public hearings, from engineering studies to political negotiations. Each project—whether wrapping a monument, building a mastaba, or veiling walkways in fabric—was imagined with precision, intensity, and independence. They refused commissions and sponsorships, believing that true freedom was their only material. Many proposals were halted by bureaucracy, others by shifting interest or time, but all were pursued with the same devotion as their realized works. The drawings themselves—layered with photographs, fabric samples, pastel, and industrial paint—were not preparations, but manifestations. These projects live on as acts of radical imagination, challenging conventional definitions of sculpture and permanence. Unrealized did not mean incomplete. For Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the idea was already a form. Even without ever being built, these projects exist—with clarity, conviction, and presence.