You might already know the work of photographer and urban explorer Ralph Mirebs – his series of photos of abandoned Soviet spacecraft went viral earlier this year. His fascination with science and technology have fueled his photography, and he’s passionate about documenting abandoned industrial spaces striving to always answer the question ‘What was this used for?’ See his work and find out more in our Q&A. Read more
Tag: Abandonment
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Chicken Church: Fowl-Shaped Abandonment Found Deep in Forest
[ By WebUrbanist in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]
Reportedly inspired by a divine message, the architect of this poultry-shaped church initially set out to create a place of worship in the form of a giant dove, but the locals quickly dubbed his creation the Chicken Church (Gereja Ayam in the regional language).
Indeed, despite the best intentions to craft it otherwise, it is impossible not to see a domestic egg-laying bird when looking at this open-beaked architectural creature.
In a remote Indonesian forest, this creation of Daniel Alamsjah was once a place of prayer as well as a rehabilitation center for children and drug addicts, but finishing the building proved too costly and the place closed down over a decade ago.
Covered in graffiti and crumbling at a structural level, the Chicken Church is likely not long for this world. For now, though, travelers (sometimes with romantic partners) can be found inside at times, cooped up away from prying eyes, but eventually the building will doubtless be either demolished or perhaps simply collapse on its own (story via Colossal and images via uzone.id, Punthuk Setumbu and Alek Kurniawan).
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Grimm Abandonment: Derelict Australian Fairy Tale Park for Sale
Inspired by classical fairy tales, this deserted theme park recently opened its doors to an urban explorer and photographer, giving outsiders a glimpse into …
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[ By WebUrbanist in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]
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Grimm Abandonment: Derelict Australian Fairy Tale Park for Sale
[ By WebUrbanist in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]
Inspired by classical fairy tales, this deserted theme park recently opened its doors to an urban explorer and photographer, giving outsiders a glimpse into the current state of the place as well as its potential to be reborn in the hands of the right buyer. Traveling to the site from Tasmania, Urbexography has done a remarkable job at documenting this strangely magical place.
From the Fantasy Glades website: “In the 1960’s a family of ‘Little People’ George and Rosemary Whitaker, along with their children James and Lynette, and Rosemary’s parents, Aub and Lin Gribble, set out on a journey from Sydney to Port Macquarie in NSW Australia with a dream to create their very own children’s Fairy Tale Theme Park.” It was closed 35 years later in 2002 and has remained so since.
The main attractions were based on the works of the Brothers Grimm, aided by the experience of the park’s founders in theatrical stage and set design work around such themes. Located in a patch of natural bushland at Parklands Close in Port Macquarie, the location features Snow White’s cottage, bedrooms of the Seven Dwarves and other features of similarly famous fairy tales and fables.
Whether the magic is gone forever or can be maintained and rebuilt is ultimately a question of economics – the current owners would love nothing more than to sell the place to someone who has an interest in bringing it back to life.
In the words of the photographer: “Fantasy Glades was an absolutely magical, special place for many people including myself as a child and also my children when they were little. It has been visited and enjoyed by numerous families from all around the world since 1968 when it first opened. Fantasy Glades is a hidden piece of paradise in one of Australia’s best locations.”
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Yellow Brick Ode: The Mainly Abandoned Land Of Oz Theme Park
Closed since 1980, the Land of Oz theme park only opens for one October weekend annually. The rest of the time it looks like it’s been abandoned 35 years.
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Post-Olympic Abandonment: Sochi Already on the Road to Ruin
The Olympics have a long history of leaving a mixed legacy in their wake but the story of Sochi is particularly strange – it was never completely …
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Abandoned Mine is Now World’s Largest Indoor BMX Bike Park
Boasting 5 miles of trails, ramps and obstacles, this cavernous subterranean space sits 100 feet underground and totals 320,000 square feet. The wide-open …
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[ By WebUrbanist in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]
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Post-Olympic Abandonment: Sochi Already on the Road to Ruin
[ By WebUrbanist in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]
The Olympics have a long history of leaving a mixed legacy in their wake but the story of Sochi is particularly strange – it was never completely finished in the first place, and is already nearly abandoned less than a year after it hosted the Winter Games of 2014.
Already located in a remote area of Russia (albeit near the country’s largest resort area), it is perhaps no surprise that this Olympic Village would not be sustainable after serving as a venue. Russian photographer Alexander Belenkiy recently visited to document the deserted architecture of the area.
His photos show what you might expect – empty streets, sidewalks, buildings and parking structures, many showing signs of degradation and disuse. Anyone who tuned into the media attention during and in the run-up to the games knows that the facilities were also in many cases shoddily constructed or incomplete to begin with.
Stylistically, the architecture is a strange mix of contemporary and chistorical with elements of rural-town traditionalism, resort-village detailing and decorative columns, colors and facades spanning and mixing various movements and periods. Without upkeep, though, these eclectic remixes may not be long for this world.
TThis was Russia’s first time hosting the Winter Olympic Games, but it had to start largely from scratch: “The site of a training centre for aspiring Olympic athletes, in 2008, the city had no world-class level athletic facilities fit for international competition. To get the city ready for the Olympics, the Russian government committed a $ 12 billion investment package. According to some estimates, the investments necessary to bring the location up to Olympic standards may have exceeded that of any previous Olympic games. By January 2014 the construction costs had been reported to exceed the $ 50 billion mark, making it the most expensive Olympic Games in history.”
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MegaFaces: Massive Display Enables 3D Selfies at Sochi
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[ By WebUrbanist in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]
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Instant Abandonment: Faux Desert City Built to be Bombed
[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]
Normally, urban design is done with death and destruction in mind – but prevention, rather than facilitation, is the focus. This unique mini-city was made to be destroyed, pummeled into the dust by repeated drills by armed forces.
Built by the United States military in the remote Nevada desert, the Urban Target Complex (R-2301-West aka “Yodaville”) is the target of strafing, sniping, rocketing and bombing (above image by Lance Cpl. Zac Scanlon).
The terrain has a realistic layout patterned after settlements in the Middle East, and the structures themselves – mainly constructed from shipping containers – are stacked up to four stories high.
As Ed Darack writes for Air & Space Magazine, from his experience following troops into the faux action, ”The artillery and mortars started firing, troops advanced toward the target complex, and aircraft of all types—carefully controlled by students on the mountain top—mounted one attack run after another. At one point so much smoke and dust filled the air above the “enemy” that nothing could be seen of the target—just one of the real-world problems the students had to learn to cope with that day.”
BldgBlog asks what we should make of mysterious military architecture, often hidden from public view and thus veiled from scrutiny or critique. “So what, for instance, might something like a Yodaville National Park, or Urban Target Complex National Monument, look like? How would it be managed, touristed, explored, mapped, and understood? What sorts of trails and interpretive centers might it host?”
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Faux-ny Phone Towers: Cleverly Concealed Cellular Sites
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[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]
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