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New government figures show that 5.9% of all Japanese homes are abandoned, while 13.88% of homes are vacant (a total of 9 million homes). The issue is predominantly impacting the country's rural areas, while the number of vacant and abandoned apartments and condo units is also increasing. Several... View full entry
Project abandonments have spiked recently across the country, according to a new analysis of construction project data contained in the ConstructConnect Project Stress Index for the week ending on March 31st. Construction Dive has more on the latest economic indicators impacting nearly every... View full entry
With days to go until the 2024 Grammy Awards, one nominee in the running for Album of the Year contains an unexpected architectural overture. Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, nominated in three categories, contains a song of the same name that dwells on an... View full entry
Aether Architects has unveiled a sleek adaptive reuse project of an abandoned factory boiler building in Shenzhen. Renovated for Zhongcheng Space Holdings Group, the structure had been sitting empty for more than ten years before its renovation. The original building had no windows and was... View full entry
St Peter's Seminary in Cardross is a category A listed building - the highest level of protection for buildings of architectural or historic interest.
It was closed as a training college for priests in the 1970s and left to ruin.
The Catholic Church described it as an "albatross around our neck".
— bbc.com
A battle is brewing in Cardross, Scotland over the uncertain future of St. Peter's Seminary, a 1960s-era Brutalist complex that has been abandoned for nearly 30 years. Widely considered Scotland's most important 20th Century structure, the seminary was designed by architects Gillespie, Kidd... View full entry
All over town, buildings sit empty, somehow unused despite a fierce shortage of housing and a long-running development boom that has transformed long-quiet patches of the city into hot property. [...]
Some are better kept than others. Some have more prestigious addresses. But each is a puzzle unto its own.
— Boston Globe
Boston Globe reporter Tim Logan investigates the factors behind Boston's many vacant buildings — despite a booming real estate market. "Even crumbling and empty buildings serve a purpose in a new Boston where so much is shiny and fresh," writes Logan. View full entry
Are you an architecture buff who has traveling at the top of your list this year? Many travel all over to view and capture beautiful sites on camera. However, what about the places that have been forgotten and abandoned over time? These places, once filled with life and activity, have laid... View full entry
With flawless blue skies and the latest landmarks of cutting edge design, postcards from across the Soviet Union were miniature propaganda posters for the success of the communist system.
Showcasing brutalist hotels, futurist TV towers, and bold concrete tower blocks, each image is a snapshot of the transformative decades between 1960 and 1990: from the endless optimism of Khrushchev's Thaw, to the closing years of the Cold War.
— calvertjournal.com
These Soviet Union postcards have been collected as part of a book project, Brutal Bloc Postcards, featuring some of the most iconic brutalist landmarks within the Eastern Bloc. Many of these structures are now abandoned, derelict, or completely gone. Take a look at this unique glimpse into the... View full entry
An abandoned 26-story building in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil, caught fire and collapsed early Tuesday, showering the surrounding streets with fiery embers and killing at least one person, firefighters said.
About 150 firefighters were battling the blaze, which started at about 1:30 a.m. local time. It is thought to have been caused by a gas explosion, according to reports.
— NPR
Though officially abandoned as the former São Paulo headquarters of the federal police, about 50 families were believed to have occupied the building as squatters. Most people have reportedly managed to get out, however at least one person died in the building collapse, firefighters said... View full entry
Ford Motor Co. is in discussions to purchase the dilapidated Michigan Central Station in Detroit's Corktown neighborhood just outside of downtown, Crain's has learned from multiple sources familiar with the negotiations. — Crain's Detroit Business
"A redevelopment of the depot, which has been abandoned and blighted for three decades since Amtrak stopped service in 1988, would be one of the most expensive and complex local undertakings in recent history," Crain's reports. View full entry
Talk about redeveloping the long-vacant Michigan Central Station in Detroit's Corktown area heated up again Thursday during an announcement about this year's Detroit Homecoming, which will hold the first significant private event in the 104-year-old train station since the mid-1980s. [...]
"(Redevelopment of) the depot is going to take a marathon, but we're not at the beginning of the race, we're a few miles into it," said Matthew Moroun, whose father, Matty, bought the building in 1995.
— crainsdetroit.com
"I said, 'there's one thing: Every time I read a damn national story about Detroit, there's a picture of the train station with the holes in the windows as the international image of the city's decline,'" Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is quoted saying, recalling his conversation with billionaire... View full entry
This is the second and likely final time construction will be halted on the one million square foot plant, which according to The Verge, was going to be Faraday Future's way of competing with fellow electric car manufacturer Tesla. Faraday Future's "FFZero1 Concept Prototype." Image: WikipediaAs... View full entry
Danila Tkachenko is a Russian photographer whose series Restricted Areas crystallises the tendencies of many artists working on themes of the post-Soviet space. As Calvert 22’s Power and Architecture season demonstrates, there is a healthy interest in the abandoned or neglected buildings that once served as landmarks of Soviet ambition: the rack and ruin of utopia. What sets Tkachenko apart is the unforgiving simplicity of his compositions. — calvertjournal.com
All photos from Danila Tkachenko's series Restricted Areas. For far more of these beauties, head over to Calvert Journal.Related stories in the Archinect news:New photo book documents the beautifully outlandish architecture of Soviet bus stopsHaunting beauty: Alexander Gronsky photographs... View full entry
The villas are naked concrete, baked in the sun like unpainted pottery. The swimming pool is a trough with light fixtures poking from the sides. There are no guests, many stray dogs, and one-full time member of staff—a watchman who spends much of his time tending a fruit orchard where mangoes, oranges and lemons grow.
If this were an isolated case, it would be mere misfortune. But the Seagull is just one ruin among dozens that line some 200 km of road on the southeastern Sinai coast.
— Quartz
"These ghost hotels are a product of the collapse of Egypt’s tourism industry after the revolution of 2011 and the political turmoil and terrorist attacks that followed."For more news from Egypt, check out these links:Giant "calligraffiti" mural unites community in Cairo slumDoes Foster +... View full entry
Connal...is one of the most active members of China’s approximately 200-strong urbex community. Worldwide, the pursuit – which some describe as “recreational trespass” – is estimated to have about 20,000 adherents, the majority in Europe and the United States.
Connal’s urbexing has taken him into derelict science museums, “haunted” pre-Revolution hotels, ghostly amusement parks, and a half-finished shopping centre that he calls the Great Mall of China.
— The Guardian
For more on abandoned, decaying sites worldwide, check out Archinect's coverage: Abandoned schools = new development opportunitiesThe Mysterious, Abandoned Silos of Washington, DCChinese Fun: Photographer Stefano Cerio captures the eerie side of empty amusement parks View full entry