‘Slumpy’ the tumble-down Detroit mansion

September 29, 2009 · Posted in Residential, Ruins, USA · 3 Comments

‘Slumpy’ was a favorite of Detroit ruins-aficionados, up until recently (2007) providing hot sparks of tension between various websites who documented its 20-year decline and hoped to capture its ultimate crumbling on video. I don’t know who won out in the end, but surprisingly there was somebody there, and filming, when the slump finally became a collapse.

Collapse: toppled apartment building in Shanghai

September 28, 2009 · Posted in China, Residential, Ruins · 8 Comments

A few months back (around July 2009) this block of apartments in the Minxing district of Shanghai toppled and fell on its side. It was one of many brand new buildings as yet unoccupied, now something of a tourist attraction as authorities figure out just what to do with it. One construction worker was killed in the collapse, which is awful but quite lucky compared to the numbers that would have died had the thing been occupied by the 300-odd residents who had already bought apartments within it, and were waiting to move in.

Still fairly pristine, just on its side.

Infiltrating the Rojin home

June 12, 2009 · Posted in Haikyo, Residential, Shizuoka · 10 Comments

The Rojin (old folks) Home we stumbled across in Shizuoka was a happy accident, one of those random call-outs from the back seat of the car that normally go unheeded. We were searching for an abandoned hospital and having little luck- so the mere sight of anything remotely fenced-off fired up our blood and got us out there investigating.

rojin-7002

The death of Metabolism- the New Sky Biru

April 20, 2009 · Posted in Haikyo, Residential, Tokyo-to · 9 Comments

The New Sky Building in Shinjuku belongs to the stable of architecture known as Metabolism, a 1970′s movement in Japan to create utilitarian, utopian, bolt-on and off structures that can change and evolve as needed.Â It was a grand-sounding vision that never went mainstream, as Metabolist buildings were often a nightmare to construct and far too much effort to actually ‘transform’ by re-bolting. Another example is the Nakagin Capsule Hotel Tower in Shimbashi- slated for destruction.

Bolt-on modules up the left side.

Apartments behind the barricade- abandoned

November 28, 2008 · Posted in Haikyo, Residential, Tokyo-to · 11 Comments

The Osawa Apartments Haikyo in Sagamihara is a high-walled preserve for the recent past, shuttered in behind a plate-metal security fence 15 feet high. Outside the fence traffic races by on a highway slip road, and elementary school children play baseball in their school yard. Inside those sounds are deadened, and nothing moves but for the steady slow creep of vines, spreading like a green blanket over the cracked car parks and up the dusty building’s sides. Around the complex bicycles lie rusted in fallen racks, tangled through with weeds, and 6-mat rooms rest empty behind locked screen doors, their tatami mat floors slowly bleaching white in the pale autumn sun.

Recent Tweets
Featured Books

ruins / Haikyo

The ruins of Monkey Island
No, not the game. This particular Monkey Island (‘Sarushima’ in Japanese) is located off the coast of Yokosuka near the mouth of Tokyo Bay, and during World War II served as an artillery battery and first point of defense of the Japanese homeland. After the war the anti-aircraft guns were removed, a ferry service began, [...]

Category: Haikyo, Kanagawa, Military Installations
Relics of Camp Drake in Saitama, Japan
Camp Drake was a joint US Army/Air Force base in Saitama, active until the 1970`s. It contained a hospital which handled troops coming out of Vietnam and also a communications array. Now about half of it remains, an overgrown jungle with only a few remaining buildings set back behind several layers of fencing. The other [...]

Category: Haikyo, Military Installations, Saitama