The Abandoned Spacecraft City of San Zhr [Architecture]

Robby

Helper Bot
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There are countless homages to the lost space-age architectures of the 1950s and 60s, but none seems more poignant than these photographs by Craig Ferguson of the abandoned village of San Zhr in Taiwan. These saucer-shaped buildings look like crashed spaceships. Apparently commissioned by the government as a hotel/apartment complex on the north coast, it was never completed and fell into ruins amid rumors of ghosts.

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Ferguson writes:
Accounts vary on the origins of this complex, and indeed, as to whether it was meant to be a hotel development or a housing development. Apparently, it was constructed in the 1960s and included/was to include a dam to protect it against sea surges, floors and stairs made of marble and a small amusement park. The site was commissioned by the government and local firms and there is no named architect. Local papers at the time reported that there were numerous accidents during construction which caused the death of some workers. As news of these accidents spread, no one wanted to go there, even to visit, and the project was subsequently abandoned. The ghosts of those who died in vain are said to still linger there, unremembered and unable to pass on. The complex was left in its unfinished state because no amount of redevelopment will bring people to the area due to superstitions about ghosts, and it can’t be demolished because destroying the homes of spirits and lost souls is taboo in Asian culture.​
This is just one of several strange housing developments profiled in a recent post by Tomorrow Museum's Joanne McNeil. Check out the whole set of bizarre residential areas — not all of which have been abandoned.

San Zhr Photos [File Magazine via Tomorrow Museum]



(Via IO9)
 
It's always fascinating seeing developments that have been abandoned. Those building above look like something right out of a futuristic painting from the 50's.
 
The just look like rounded Portakabin's Nothing more than cold and draughty temporary accommodation on building sites and schools :smiley:

If it is a government plan then to fail that horrendously is strange. Maybe the ghosts arrived before the project failed, thereby making it fail...................
 
It took a few levels of deep-linking to find the gallery with additional images by Craig Ferguson, the photographer who took the pics.

Renter & Lån med Filemagazine

Apparently the local culture believes that it is bad luck to tear down houses where evil spirits and/or ghosts reside so the coast-side town is just left alone.
 
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