That’s what it sounds like when you walk on flakes of paint. Abandonments are the “autumn” of urban infrastructure!

The title of this post is something that I haven’t done in such a long time. These were all taken within the past few months, so not recently. But chances are, you haven’t even seen them yet!

The project “Leerstand” begins with a series of actions in abandoned buildings on Hoy, Orkney Islands, Scotland. -> Information / Actions

Hoy, Orkney Islands, Scotland, 2009

I am an artist based in Zurich, Switzerland, presently working in Scotland.
This blog is introducing my new project “Leerstand” on which I am currently working on.
The works are about altering spaces, adressing issues and implementing actions.

Update: Here are some recent shots I’ve made at an old abandoned farmhouse. I’m not sure when the actual house was built, but the concrete silo on the property is dated back to 1911. The decay is magnificent within the house, with the peeling paint flakes, broken glass, old wallpaper, all displaying years of neglect.

This time on Friday!

Photography is my hobby.  I have my boyfriend hooked now, too.  While I introduced him to SLR photography, he introduced us both to urban exploring.

Basically you go into abandoned buildings and take photos of everything, hoping the whole time that you won’t get caught.  You don’t break anything or paint anything, but from my experience, there’s plenty of that to photograph too.

We stumbled into our first urban exploration by accident.  Driving through Mineral Wells, we stopped by the Baker Hotel and ended up joining in a four hour venture through the place.  Lots of fun.  Stupid, but fun.  If you go, take a respirator.  I coughed for three days.  Gross.   (I have heard that they keep it very secure now.  Good luck, and be careful!  Those elevator shafts go a looong way down).

Our next trip was to a deserted Army Hospital.  That trip was disappointing.  The location looked like it was used as a Goodwill or a huge garage sale.  No original items were there, which is what we wanted to photograph (no, not to take.  Then we would be arrested if caught, fo’ sho’)

Within the heap were bicycles!  Which leads me to Bike Friday.  I’ll post photos from the Baker and Army Hospital at another time.  I need to get to transcribing interviews that I’ve put off for way too long.

Tomorrow morning I’m covering a Susan G Komen race.  Time permitting, I’ll take some pictures of pink pink pink and post them.

OK been a bit busy of late, as previous posts will testify but here’s a few film shots I recently got developed to keep the interest up

All shots are unedited apart from addition of watermark and minor adjustments such as straightening. Really pretty pleased at how these shots turned out and the quality and sharpness that film provides never ceases to amaze me. Bulk of the shots are from a second visit to a former RAF Base, with the exception of the two underground shots, they were captured under the streets of Lancashire somewhere in an old culvert!

Anyway enough babble, on with the shots…

Haymaker PT2 - Canon EOS3000 F6.3 / ISO200 Film / 24mm /Aprrox 3mins.

Frigid Air – Canon EOS3000 F6.3 / ISO200 Film / 24mm / Approx 3mins
This lonely fridge stands in a corner of a room in this old base, with only a sink shoved inside its top half for company.

British Red & Blue - Canon EOS 3000 / F6.3 / ISO200 / Approx 8mins / 24mm

Haymaker PT2 – Canon EOS 3000 / F6.3 / ISO200 / Approx 5mins / 24mm

Culverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt!

Long story behind the title but far too long to to explain here Dont remember the shot details for the above or below shots and god knows its a miracle they turned out anywhere near as good as this.

Double Trouble

Ok so this shot isnt technically brilliant but I wanted to add it because I was so blown away by the size of the arches. It was extremeley hard because one it was completely pitch black and two there were 4 or so other people with us who were not completely in-tune with what I was trying to achieve but hey I aint bitching cos I wouldnt have been there in the first place if it wasnt for them. Also I coulnt even see as far as second couple of people further up on far side the tunnel, let alone as far as the exposure has picked up.

Photo by adam (Citynoise)

How often do you think about the layers of the city? Just this evening on my way home from work I was thinking about how the sidewalks and the pavement that I was walking on were likely only a couple generations old, it really wasn’t that long ago that our cities were paved with dirt when you consider the scale of history. So what’s under all this pavement, what do you get when you peel back a couple layers of tar and asphalt? In some cases you find things that have long been forgotten, well I suppose that in most cases you are going to find things that have been forgotten. For those of you who are into abandonments, we bring this post from Citynoise.org about the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel.

The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel is officially the world’s oldest subway tunnel, built in 1844 by the cut-and-cover method under a City of Brooklyn Street. It is a half-mile long and accommodated two standard gauge tracks. The tunnel was built in only seven months, using only hand tools and primitive (by today’s standards) equipment. It was built to provide grade separation for early Long Island Rail Road trains that lacked brakes good enough to operate on city streets, and to eliminate vehicular and pedestrian traffic conflicts and delays. This route allowed through trains to travel quickly between Brooklyn and Boston (via ferry service to Connecticut).

The tunnel was supposedly filled in 1861 in a fraud scheme that apparently just sealed off the ends. Bob Diamond rediscovered the long forgotten Atlantic Avenue Tunnel in 1980. The Brooklyn Historic Railway Association (BHRA) was formed in 1982 to restore the historic tunnel. BHRA successfully filed and received designation for the tunnel on the National Register of Historic Places.

Oldest Subway Tunnel in the World – Brooklyn, NY : citynoise.org.

Photo by adam (citynoise)

Sent to me by Jen Gaugler, fluent in architecture and historic preservation, this website, WebUrbanist is addicting. You might get lost. You will not be able to look away because there are photographs of recycled art and architecture, green architecture, abandoned buildings, beach houses, houses dubbed “amazing,” Greek art, street art, furniture, photography tricks, abandoned cities…it never ends! 

The website itself is slightly cumbersome because the advertisements take up half the screen when all we really want to see are the pictures, but it’s still worth your time and scrolling the mouse. Check it out. Think about it. Share comments if you’d like.  And you might want to have a clock nearby so you don’t lose your day to architecture (not that that is ever a bad thing, but you might have other responsibilities.)

Easy access links from WebUrbanist

About

Abandonments (my personal favorite & another topic for another post)

Architecture

Environment

Step out of your box & find the inspiration in all of these subjects (& more listed on the site.)

Enjoy! Thank you Jen!

Little write up about what I got up to over Bank Holiday, certainly not everyones cup of tea but what the hey the results are pretty good. We visited the following sites…

Former German work camp not far out side of Crewe. Very little info to be found on the net but as of June 16, 1945 the U.S. France and the U.K. held a combined total of 7,500,000 German POW’s and DEF’s. During the two World Wars many hundreds of Prisoners of war were lodged in Shropshire’s 18 POW camps. These were not all in occupation at the same time or during both wars. We had permission to shoot this site, so was a nice relaxed wander about.

Nissen Skyline

F7.1 / 25mins / ISO100 / 10mm

Grass, green gel flash multiple times from behind camera and to right of frame. 1st hut lit blue multiple times from inside, the same for the doorway and windows of the second, purple and yellow respectively. Each lighting type was repeated twice during the exposure to build up colour.

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Next up was Doddington Castle, or Delves Hall, I believe its also known as. In a pretty shabby state.

“This fortified tower was built by Sir John Delves in 1364, on the site of a former moated manor house. The tower was initially free-standing and was probably intended as a place of refuge for the family. In the 17th century it was incorporated into a range of domestic buildings which were known as Doddington Hall.[3] In the Civil War the hall became a garrison for the parliamentary forces. It was taken for the king by Lord Byron in January 1644 but retaken shortly after.In 1727 the house and estate passed to the Broughton family. The house was demolished around 1777 and replaced by the new Doddington Hall, leaving the tower as a landscape feature which was possibly used as a gazebo or a banqueting pavilion. The external staircase to the former house was retained when the house was demolished and it was attached to the tower.” From Wikipedia

Doddington Castle

F7.1 / 11mins / ISO100 / 10mm

Not a long enough exposure, when we arrived the stars were everywhere so I slapped on my battery back and was gonna do a mega long trail, sadly it wasnt to be as not long after I’d set it going it soon clouded over again! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

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Following this was a nearby ramshackle house, owned by former quarry magnate Jim Barry, here again have struggled to find out anything concrete about the place. The house is a strange one and the first of two we would visit tonight where the house is separated into two and without leaving the house its only possible to get from one side to the other by going upstairs, not advisable I would say as there are bowing ceilings and at one stage a clear view right in the attic from the ground floor. Access to the actual house is tricky as most of the entrances have had huge piles of earth shoveled up in front of the doorways, so much so that at the front of the building it would be possible to gain access by a first floor bedroom window. Despite going in and having a mooch about couldn’t be arsed lugging camera in and gear in take shots so here’s a few exterior shots…

Green Meanie

F5.6 / 3.5Mins/ ISO100 / 16mm

Garage exterior lit from behind camera and to right with green gelled flash, interior lit by orange gelled flash, both fired multiple times during the exposure. Red tyres lit by Rachel, playing with flash triggers, nothing like free lighting, with out have to fire a flash Moon to rear of garage…

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Jim's Garage

F5.5 / 5Mins / ISO100 / 10mm

Composition is poor but the colours are nice and the painting was tricky with three light painters. Each of three former garages at Jim Barry’s house were full of deep thistles, nettles, brambles and the odd tire thrown in for good measure, guaranteed to trip you up kinda stuff. Couple of minutes into the exposure and in position after Nocturne, as he put it, took one for the team, finally being the person to trip over, a chair of all things, we began to light the garages. Th3g lighting the red  then runs out of batteries and only begins lighting his end after Nocturne and I have stumbled back out of the hellish undergrowth this end.

Blue – (Myself) Fired multiple times, at ceiling and wall.
Green – (Nocturne) Same I presume!
Red  – (Th3g) A little late but as above.

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Finally on the list tonight was another abandoned house, with the same strange quirk as the last, that one side was on accessible from the other via the first floor, agin not a great idea as I nearly found out later! This was a bit of a strange place this, what with [b]This is hell[/b] written above the fireplace, birds, bats, doors shutting, huge gaping holes in the upper floors, shotgun cartridges litter the floor, topped off by an eerie breeze drifting gently through the rooms. There were a few more shots I would have like to tried here but Sunday was rapidly turning into Monday and we had already lost three of our party to tiredness and we’re ready to call it a night after this.

Now Who Would Live In A House Like This?

F5.6 / 1min20secs / ISO100 / 10mm

Fireplace lit by two tea tree lights, left hand window lit multiple times with red gelled flash after negotiating, yet more holes, brambles, nettles etc for the second time this evening. Not amazingly lit but like the sinister feel to it.

Down The Dark Dark Steps In The Dark Dark House...

F6.3 / 1min 25secs / ISO100 / 10mm

Accidental shot this really, I had tried lighting the stairs with tea tree lights and strobing the stairs from the landing, but that was well overexposed so thought I’d have one more pop, without candles before we left. I was supposed to be shooting with a green gelled flash but when I got to the landing for the second time I had picked up a naff steel blue gel and I may as well have been shining a high powered spotlight down the stairs. I got fed up and a lil freaked, as behind the box on the landing (old boiler I think) was one of several large holes in the floor. So coming down the stairs in the pitch black, I fired the flash a couple of times so I could see where the hell I was going.

Heading back to the car, even the two cans of Relentless I consumed during the evening were struggling to keep me awake and it was a hard trudge back to the car, through long grass. Finally reached home at around 6am or so. All in all an enjoyable little jaunt with some sites definitely worth further inspection and investigation.

Great article from WebUrbanist about abandoned places and websites related to these abandonments…

What is it about abandoned places, frozen in time, that makes them seem more real than any other representation of history we encounter? From individual structures to entire communities, abandonments large and small inspire the imagination and tell us things about the past in a visceral way. Capturing moments in time, deserted cities, towns, buildings and other abandoned property can be powerfully evocative. Many people break laws, trespass on private property and risk life and limb to explore and photograph abandoned places.

(continue reading at: Abandoned Cities, Places and Property | WebUrbanist)

The Architect’s Newspaper has published some amazing photos of North Brother island by Christopher Payne.

Architect and photographer Christopher Payne is fascinated with the afterlives of buildings. A chronicler of ruins, he has photographed disused factories on the East River, the High Line on the West Side, outmoded transit electrical substations throughout Manhattan, and, for the past few years, shuttered insane asylums and state hospitals across the country. Payne’s latest subject is the buildings and landscape of North Brother, a derelict hospital island in the Bronx under the jurisdiction of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, far removed from the cycles of development and change that are transforming the city. Evidence of habitation and of the island’s checkered history is literally disappearing into the woods.

Payne on first seeing the island …

“I felt like I had found a lost city in a jungle, and yet here I was in New York City,” Payne said. His boat, he realized, was too big to get close to the island’s ruined dock. “Here was this lost world, a hundred feet away, that I couldn’t get to.” On a second trip, he found its buildings—a hospital, power plant, boiler, morgue, housing, cistern, and other infrastructure—receding into the landscape. “It’s strange to look at old photos and see how it functioned, how clear it was, a modern, open campus,” he said. “It’s amazing how quickly Nature reclaims what’s Hers.”

You can see more of Payne’s photographs of abandoned America on his site. You can learn more about North Border Island at Wikipedia, this urban explorer site, and this blog about the island.

(via)

The Hotel of Doom!

Reuters is reporting that the infamous 105-storey Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang has awoken from its slumber and is once again seeing construction work. It has been reported that Egypt’s Orascom group has been contracted to refurbish the top floors of what has been termed by some as the ‘Hotel of Doom.’ Construction originally started in 1987 and it was thought that the tower was a jealous response to the South’s Olympic construction boom. The structure is 105 stories high and, if it were fully finished, it would contain 3.9 million square feet of floor space. Kim Ill Sung started construction to show off the states burgeoning economic power. Had it been completed it would have been the tallest hotel in the world at that time, but with the collapse of the Soviet Union, North Korea lost one of its main economic benefactors and could no longer afford the price tag for the project which varies depending on the source (the Wiki entry estimates the bill at US$750 million according to Japanese newspapers; the Reuters article lists South Korean sources as suggesting that the structure would cost close to 2 billion to finish the structure and bring it up to code.)

The structure has been panned by critics as a horrible design, completely unrelated to the city surrounding it.

It is not a beautiful design. It carries little iconic or monumental significance, but sheer muscular and massive presence,” said Lee Sang Jun, a professor of architecture at Yonsei University in Seoul.

Design Aesthetics aside, the building is a great example of ‘Blade Runner’esque, futuristic architecture and is notable for being one of the few (partially) constructed examples of communist super architecture.

The North Korean Government used the hotel extensively for a number of years in its ideology, with it appearing on North Korean stamps before it was finished, and it was boasted about extensively in state media. However, after construction work ceased, the hotel came to be seen as a symbol of the state’s failure to become an economic power and was airbrushed out of pictures of the capital and, according to foreigners living in the North Korean capital, that even though the structure is so massive that it can be seen from anywhere in the city, it was impossible to get anyone to talk about it at all.

While it is unlikely that the current construction work is to ‘finish’ the Hotel, it appears that the top levels are going to be adapted for some sort of use. Perhaps Dr. Evil decided to lease some space for a new lair.

Check out the Reuters article here.

The Wiki entry is here.

I have to admit that I wasn’t going to post about abandonments; when I conceptualised what I thought this blog was going to be about it didn’t include them.

Until today that is.  Illicitohio is a site devoted to exploring these areas forgotten or otherwise blocked off from the rest of the world. These photos of Tyson Mansion are of a remarkably preserved look at what was once a boxer’s swinging pad.

http://illicitohio.illicitohio.com/tyson.htm

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