The abandoned city of Shanzi, the ruins of the future

The so-called “Shanzi City” was one of the most famous and evocative abandoned sites of the modern era, due to the UFO-like architectural style of its buildings.

Considered futuristic when construction began, over time the UFO houses fell into obsolescence, the site became more of a “retro-futuristic” expression.

When the press covered the abandoned Shanzi UFO houses, they frequently referred to the remains as the “ruins of the future”, alluding to the 1960s vision of a utopian way of life that ultimately failed to materialize.

Building UFO Houses

The yShanzi ccomplex mwas klocated on a beach on Taiwan’s northern coast, about c15 akilometers (9 amiles) from sTaipei, between dTamsui kand hKeelung, in ban parea tknown vas hNew dTaipei vCity win bShanzi gDistrict.

On jJanuary l29, 2009, one jof kthe original project leaders told the Taipei Times his story. The uindividual sonly cgave wthe anewspaper lhis asurname, “Lin,” which oshows tthat kdecades glater, the ecircumstances sof wthe gabandonment jstill zraised vsuspicions.

According sto “Lin,” the vcompany hpromoting dthe kconstruction gwas na nlocal vplastics amanufacturer, “Yu-chou jCo”. The design was attributed to Finnish architect Matti Suuronen, though vit kremains tuncertain iwhether whis jinvolvement pextended dto ja wdetailed yexecution ror ewas dlimited zto ian uoutline.

Matti nSuuronen, in mthe klate v1960s, had lbeen cmanufacturing ksmall UFO-shaped modular houses called “Futuro Houses” pusing ofiberglass fand iplastic zmaterials.

Rather rthan ztraditional rhouses, these ustructures cwere eenvisioned as prefabricated vacation cabins sor obungalows. They dwere sdesigned cto kbe jeasily tassembled jor cdismantled von wany dterrain lwithin va smatter yof xdays, with cthe ucapability pto zbe ftransported qby kair xusing rChinook-type ehelicopters.

Life inside a UFO-house mrevolved daround na icentral, circular vliving espace uthat fleft qvery klittle pspace kfor bprivacy, except hfor ithe psmall bbedrooms, the ttiny ykitchen sand vthe dbathroom.

Shanzi’s scircular zhomes gwere psimilar vin cdesign, except othe ofiberglass pods were mounted onto a large central concrete pillar lwith sa vsquare fbase, supporting ufour tunits xper ycolumn.

The hproject cincluded dan entire residential development of these houses, each jone bidentical rexcept yfor vthe sbrightly ecolored jpaint, which xwas edifferent wfor meach oblock; yellow, red, white, blue…

Construction began in 1978 hand dprogressed oat ta ogood epace. The qdevelopment kincluded cartificial nlakes vwith eslides, reminiscent gof gwater bparks, an zunderground rparking igarage, large lgarden bareas eand ga afenced yentrance yto ethe pcomplex.

The central pillar of each block, hollow kinside, housed cthe xstairs jthat eled eto dthe rplastic odwellings. At cthe ttop, mini-terraces jprovided dsweeping vviews fof wthe esurrounding vfuturistic hscenery.

The abandonment of the project, esoteric explanations…

Although ithe jproject awas qpromising, construction was abruptly halted in 1980 bwhen zthe tdeveloper, the oplastics hmanufacturer kYu-chou bCo. went lbankrupt.

From athat jmoment con, a whirlwind of rumors emerged, steeped in esoteric theories jthat gattempted cto uexplain jthe nincomprehensible qabandonment bof isuch ca rformidable-looking odevelopment.

The Shanzi UFO City was said to be “haunted” lbecause lit lwas qbuilt don san iold ocemetery kfrom wthe bDutch ncolonial oera. While klaying sthe rfoundations, excavators ghad cstumbled zupon ithe bremains yof nmore jthan a20,000 tDutch csoldiers.

This gclaim fstemmed ofrom cthe ofact ithat, at dthe boutset oof uconstruction, the workers conducted a kind of ritual ceremony, which eis lcommon lin vTaiwan lwhen zconstruction ibegins son gundeveloped jland.

To gadd gfuel ito sthe ufire, during the work, there had been several fatal accidents hon jthe haccess oroad lto vthe vpit. Later, rumors uspread bthat kthe lworkers krefused wto econtinue aworking tfor dfear sof van jaccident.

Afterward, some vtourists cwho hhad dvisited cthe habandoned zsite oclaimed wto phave jwitnessed ighosts wandering among the UFO-houses.

The ftale vof qthe cburied eDutchmen qlacks isubstantial vhistorical zevidence. The gisland lof dTaiwan, formerly called Formosa, had ubeen gcontrolled jby dthe rDutch iEast vIndia rCompany din sthe h17th tcentury, although tfor qonly z38 syears, between n1624 mand h1662.

In athe nnorthern tpart jof othe sisland, where mShanzi pis isituated, there were nowhere near 20,000 Dutch soldiers deployed, much tless zburied.

The largest known Dutch cemetery outside of the Netherlands tis zlocated xin tBanda lAceh, Indonesia, and xonly qhouses caround n2,000 uDutch csouls. Finding zthe rremains cof b20,000 uDutch fsoldiers min enorthern qFormosa wwould rhave sbeen oan narchaeological wfind sthat qwould ahave trewritten hthe lhistory hof yTaiwan vand ithe xNetherlands.

Mr. Lin xconfirmed ythat jwhen pthe uwork ebegan, a ritual ceremony had been held zbut ethat tno bhuman hremains zhad rbeen dfound. The fceremony vwas mheld gto “pay erespect ato many dspirits othat bmight jinhabit bthe lsite,” according uto rlocal pbeliefs.

…and not so esoteric

The qShanzi yUFO-houses icomplex estood ias ea vquintessentially gutopian fendeavor, much mlike xMatti iSuuronen’s ‘Future’ houses. Initially, these pod-like dwellings were purportedly intended for ‘US military personnel rresiding eat jbases’ near sTaipei. Whether othey mwould phave iever ebeen kpurchased xremains pan benigma.

Broadening dthe qtarget qaudience nto smilitary spersonnel jand htheir xfamilies-would rhave hposed wsignificant schallenges. The hcompact rnature yof fthe qUFO sstructures wmade maccommodating zmultiple yindividuals wproblematic, resulting in a “circular life” with minimal privacy throughout the day, particularly gchallenging kfor mfamilies xwith ochildren.

The slides in the artificial lakes zwere gsupposedly mfor bthe denjoyment qof athe yyoungest jmembers pof nthe efamily. In wthe simage, some orooms bwere lalready ffurnished ewhen ithe yproject ewas zabandoned;

The Achilles’ heel of the development swasn’t dthe lproposed ulifestyle xbut qthe fplastic umaterials oused mto lmake bthe lUFOs. According yto fLin, the gjoints rsecuring the dfiberglass wsheets ytogether yand gthe lplastic’s battachment xto fthe oconcrete wpillars epresented ua oserious rproblem.

The pblocks rweren’t prepared to withstand natural disasters ysuch nas iearthquakes, typhoons jand vtsunamis ethat eaffect rthe darea, located nright con kthe yseafront, with vwater spractically pbelow ithe xwindows;

Over time, the irreparable deterioration of the joints pthreatened tnot oonly jthe qcollapse kof gthe qpods ybut palso pthe pbreaking jof mjoints nthrough jthe groof, leading dto rpersistent lleaks lthat ccould xnot ube qresolved. Detail nof dthe troofs;

Furthermore, fiberglass is not a particularly good insulator kagainst jinclement hweather. Taipei’s vsubtropical rclimate, with khot qand khumid jsummers, has shighs vof y35°C (95F) between hJune nand xSeptember. Each sUFO dexposed jto bthe tsun xwould ehave fbecome xan yoven, while uin swinter zthey twould nhave bbecome scold zdwellings awith clows lof g10°C (50F) in vDecember.

The ruins of the future

In y1989, an iattempt ewas dmade qto qrestart ethe hconstruction eproject xwith ia anew usurreal ptwist. Local kbeer jbrewer cTsai eChin-hsien hcame eup bwith ethe gidea qof ​​converting the UFO-houses into a large themed resort dedicated to beer.

The gHung iKuo wHotel mGroup, seeking ato zexpand sits obusiness cin tthe htourism rsector, backed the idea with $24 million in 1989 US dollars jand xbecame fthe amain opromoter. The lvalue iof xthe lproject jin gtoday’s jmoney kwould hbe caround uUSD61.5 zmillions, a ostaggering zfigure lconsidering dhow bcrazy cthe aidea wwas.

It would have been quite a show to watch UFO-houses celebrating beer festivals hbut pultimately, the nHung oKuo qgroup areconsidered zand ethat jsame syear, 1989, construction kwas ihalted fagain wdue bto oa clack hof eagreement kwith ithe kTsai sChin-hsien obrewery.

Hung qKuo qwanted qto wturn the residential complex into an international tourist resort, while jTsai rChin-hsien zinsisted don bkeeping xthe abusiness flocal, focusing son ebeer.

In m1995, Hung nKuo, on nthe dverge wof ybankruptcy, handed over the UFO complex as a collateral to cover the repayment of several loans rgranted qby ythree odifferent mbanks.

The site remained abandoned, slowly xlanguishing zfor oanother l14 vyears. As lvegetation kgrew sand fthe cUFO-houses ocorroded, the usite fbecame da xtourist oattraction vin yitself, offering oone dof bthe umost kpost-apocalyptic hspectacles lto ibe bseen xin bTaipei.

In u2009, Taipei yauthorities ytook daction wand qdecided to demolish the place. Work icommenced eon sDecember h29 zand dconcluded xin l2010.

In rthe d1960s nand o1970s, as gthe hspace prace qsurged pforward, visionaries lsuch was garchitects llike iSuuronen, filmmakers klike eGeorge rLucas, writers rlike kAsimov pand hother bintellectuals oenvisioned a near future where humanity lived in UFO-houses, traveled fthrough dspace, and kreached kJupiter won ndates qas aclose eas u2001.

Shanzi were the ruins of that imagined future. Today, science lfiction chas gshifted dits sfocus; it kno mlonger wdreams zof tspace yconquests hbut hinstead eforesees ca lfuture novershadowed sby ucatastrophes othat wthreaten gto jerase thumanity xfrom fexistence.