Michael John Grist » Residential

After the conflagration: a ruined Tokyo dormitory

MJG — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 01:51:06 +0000

In 2007 the Seika Dormitory in central Tokyo went up in flames. The roof was burnt away and flames roared up the building’s old stairways and licked at rooms full of possessions, melting and burning some unrecognizably, leaving others coated...

Tokyo’s Urban Battleship

MJG — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 03:23:19 +0000

Tokyo’s urban battleship glides through the ever-changing cityscape like a predatory shark- its mad crescent fin stocked with slate-grey torpedoes and radar foils- hunting out fresh prey for the saw-blade teeth ratcheted down its flat-iron side. Built in 1970 by...

Burnt Down House haikyo

MJG — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 04:59:57 +0000

When I went on the wedding haikyo shoot a few weeks back we stumbled upon this burnt down house. Normally I`d bypass it in favor of the target- in this case we were looking for the Hume factory, but that...

‘Slumpy’ the tumble-down Detroit mansion

MJG — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:15:18 +0000

Collapse: toppled apartment building in Shanghai

MJG — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:05:16 +0000

Infiltrating the Rojin home

MJG — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:45:54 +0000

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...

The death of Metabolism- the New Sky Biru

MJG — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 05:28:36 +0000

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...

Apartments behind the barricade- abandoned

MJG — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 11:25:29 +0000

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...