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August 16, 2006
Taiwanese Resort of the Future
Is it a house? Is it a spaceship? Is it a crumbling Taiwanese retro-fantasy-space-apartment-thing?
As best as I've been able to uncover, this abandoned structure was built as a hotel-spa... a place for vacationing Taiwanese to escape from the rat race of Taipei! One could relax in one of its two delightfully large pools or simply lay back in plush comfort, gazing out a picture window at an endless sea!
Our cute retro resort is located along the north coast of Taiwan, where there's also a healthy fiberglass yacht construction industry. And if one is already making fiberglass yachts, one might as well make fiberglass homes! Diversification! It's not a very big jump for any forward looking entrepreneur. Unfortunately, our eager entrepreneur is blind to the catastrophe that will befall his investment.
What was that catastrophe? It's a mystery. But a dizzying number of explanations have been offered. According to visitors to the ruins, it may have been something as simple as bad fung shui. Others say that the fiberglass may have been downright uncomfortable in which to live. Still others point to a Taiwanese real estate "bubble" that forced the investors into bankruptcy.
Or who knows... it could have been a combination of all these things. Whatever the case, the ruins recall an earlier similar dwelling of the future... Disneyland's Monsato House.
Reader comment: Rollmops has kindly pointed out a few more more photos (including a Google Earth aerial view) on his Rollmops Blog.
August 16, 2006 | Permalink
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Comments
hPods! "h"uman Pods for containing people are what comes to mind with these.
Posted by: BWJones | Aug 16, 2006 2:03:38 PM
Actually, I have it on the authority of a local friend here that the reason the condos were abandoned was because the developer used beach sand to mix the concrete, thus making the homes structurally unsound. The project was half finished when it was condemned. Excellent place to stop for a few hours and wander around... a lot of the units still have plastic-wrapped rusted-out air conditioners and there are weird sculptures strewn here and there as well as a crumbling waterslide mountain by a stagnant pool. My friends and I filmed a short zombie flick there last month.
Dorion
Taipei, TW
Posted by: Dorion | Aug 16, 2006 6:46:33 PM
LOL, house as a spaceship...
Posted by: Demon | Aug 17, 2006 1:22:06 AM
more pictures and the Google Earth+Maps location at the link.
Posted by: rollmops | Aug 17, 2006 9:37:06 AM
Reminds me of the flying saucer house at Pensacola Beach, Florida, which I've seen IRL:
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tips/getAttraction.php3?tip_AttractionNo==2825
http://www.filmnorthflorida.com/locations/Pensacola-Beach:-Panferio-Road-Flying-Saucer-House/
Posted by: Dennis | Aug 17, 2006 1:56:51 PM
There is one of those houses in Delaware too.. always wanted to knock on the door and see who lived there...
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/geo/showMap.php?attractionNo=7622
Posted by: Nic Nichols | Aug 21, 2006 11:38:11 AM
There's another photoset of the same development here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hedger/sets/295359/
Posted by: Klaus | Aug 24, 2006 2:37:16 PM
is this for real?i feel that aliens is really true....it suddenly pops up into my mind.
Posted by: Home Remodeling Ideas | Apr 18, 2007 1:58:50 AM
thank you for these images....!
i remember going to this beach and staying near these flying saucers bldgs. when i was little - these sad pictures brings back memories.
Posted by: t | Jan 24, 2008 11:32:49 PM
Unfortunately, this have been torn down.
I do have some pictures of this place when I visited though.
http://bit.ly/1PHr9
Posted by: Jauder Ho | Aug 6, 2009 6:31:04 PM
Guess your blog did not like the link. Try this link instead.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jauderho/tags/ufo/show/
Posted by: Jauder Ho | Aug 6, 2009 6:34:16 PM
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