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Abandoned: The Latest Architecture and News

“Education Is the Movement From Darkness to Light:” the Bulgarian Pavilion at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale Explores School Abandonment in the Country

For the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, the Bulgarian Pavilion will present the exhibition titled “Education is the movement from darkness to light.” Curators Boris Tikvarski, Bojidara Valkova, and Mariya Gyaurova, joined by Belgian photographer Alexander Dumarey, have chosen to focus the exhibition on the subject of depopulation, urban decline, and rural flight, expressed through the image of abandoned schools present in the country. The project was selected following a national competition organized by The Ministry of Culture, The Chamber of Architects in Bulgaria, and the Union of Architects.

“Education Is the Movement From Darkness to Light:” the Bulgarian Pavilion at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale Explores School Abandonment in the Country - Image 1 of 4“Education Is the Movement From Darkness to Light:” the Bulgarian Pavilion at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale Explores School Abandonment in the Country - Image 2 of 4“Education Is the Movement From Darkness to Light:” the Bulgarian Pavilion at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale Explores School Abandonment in the Country - Image 3 of 4“Education Is the Movement From Darkness to Light:” the Bulgarian Pavilion at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale Explores School Abandonment in the Country - Image 4 of 4“Education Is the Movement From Darkness to Light:” the Bulgarian Pavilion at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale Explores School Abandonment in the Country - More Images+ 3

Goodbye Lenin

Jonk travels the world looking for abandoned places.
Today, he has visited more than one thousand and five hundreds of them in almost fifty countries on four continents.
To be touched by a place, he needs to see that only time passing had an impact on it, without any human intervention: cracked walls, peeling paints, rusted iron and nature taking over.
The ideal is to feel that he is in what he calls time capsules, get the impression that time has stopped for years, for decades.
With time, his interest has focused on those places on which only time had an impact.
Among them are

The Belgian City Doel is a Canvas for Street Artists - But is Art Enough to Save it?

Street art has long surpassed mere trend to become an integral part of cities' cultural identities. What was once considered vandalism is now not only accepted but encouraged. The works of once-prosecuted artists such as Banksy and Shepard Fairey are now collector's items; murals can cost anywhere from $1,000 to $20,000 or more. Through their works, artists may even have the power to save cities.

The Abandoned Architecture Series for your Next YouTube Binge

Designers and the general public alike have an endless fascination with abandoned architecture. Throughout history shifting economies, disasters, regime changes, and utter incompetence have all caused the evacuation of impressive architectural structures, which today serve as curious, sometimes eerie monuments to a bygone era.

Such is our fascination with these structures, YouTube is awash with videos and series of curious explorers documenting their daring, sometimes dubious adventures within abandoned architecture. One such channel, with a keen eye for architectural cinematography, is The Proper People.

The Architecture of Chernobyl: Past, Present, and Future

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Abandoned amusement park, Pripyat. Image © Flickr user oinkylicious licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

April 26th saw the 32nd anniversary of the 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster, with the explosion of the Reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine causing the direct deaths of 31 people, the spreading of radioactive clouds across Europe, and the effective decommissioning of 19 miles of land in all directions from the plant. Thirty-two years later, a dual reading of the landscape is formed: one of engineering extremes, and one of eeriness and desolation.

As the anniversary of the disaster and its fallout passes, we have explored the past, present, and future of the architecture of Chernobyl, charting the journey of a landscape which has burned and smoldered, but may yet rise from the ashes.

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Is This the Most Beautiful Ghost Town Ever? Drone Video Captures Chinese Village Reclaimed by Nature

As the shadows of the past loom around what’s left of the overgrown houses and pathways, videographer Joe Nafis has perfectly captured the rare charm of the abandoned fishing village of Houtouwan using his drone. From above, you can appreciate the extent of the foliage carpeting the walls, roofs, and openings. It was the promise of this unlikely setting that first led Nafis to visit the village as part of a fashion shoot.

Is This the Most Beautiful Ghost Town Ever? Drone Video Captures Chinese Village Reclaimed by Nature - Image 1 of 4Is This the Most Beautiful Ghost Town Ever? Drone Video Captures Chinese Village Reclaimed by Nature - Image 2 of 4Is This the Most Beautiful Ghost Town Ever? Drone Video Captures Chinese Village Reclaimed by Nature - Image 3 of 4Is This the Most Beautiful Ghost Town Ever? Drone Video Captures Chinese Village Reclaimed by Nature - Image 4 of 4Is This the Most Beautiful Ghost Town Ever? Drone Video Captures Chinese Village Reclaimed by Nature - More Images+ 20

7 Abandoned and Deteriorating Latin American Architectural Classics

How many lives does a great work of architecture have? The first begins when it is built and inhabited, judged based on the quality of life it provides for its residents. The second comes generations later when it becomes historically significant and perhaps its original function no longer suits the demands of society. The value of such buildings is that they inform us about the past and for that reason their conservation is necessary.

However, in Latin America, there are countless cases of buildings of great architectural value that are in tragic states of neglect and deterioration. Seven such examples are:

8 Extraordinary Examples of Abandoned Architecture

8 Extraordinary Examples of Abandoned Architecture - Featured Image
© Wikimedia user Stanislav Traykov licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

Throughout history shifting economies, disasters, regime changes, and utter incompetence have all caused the evacuation of impressive architectural structures. From the 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine that rendered a region of the then-Soviet Union uninhabitable, to the decline in public transport that saw a number of US train stations becoming superfluous, the history of architectural abandonment touches all cultures. And, without regular maintenance, structures deteriorate, leaving behind no more than awe-inspiring ghosts of the past to fuel the ever-growing internet trend for "ruin porn." Below are 8 abandoned buildings slowly being reclaimed by nature:

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Exhibition: After Schengen European Borders by Ignacio Evangelista

The "After Schengen" photo series shows old border crossing points between different states in the European Union. After the Schengen agreement, most of these old checkpoints remain abandoned and out of service, allowing us to gaze into the past from the present. It causes many reflections, especially at a moment when European Union project is heavily discussed.

Architecture Initiative Transforms Derelict Brutalist Northampton Landmark into Mixed-Use Academy

London-based firm Architecture Initiative has released updates of their mixed-use scheme set to transform a neglected brutalist building in Northampton, England. The Northampton International Academy, currently an abandoned Royal Mail sorting office, will be centered around educational, commercial, and community use. The scheme aims to address a need for school places in a manner which contributes to the economic regeneration of the local area.

Architecture Initiative Transforms Derelict Brutalist Northampton Landmark into Mixed-Use Academy - FacadeArchitecture Initiative Transforms Derelict Brutalist Northampton Landmark into Mixed-Use Academy - FacadeArchitecture Initiative Transforms Derelict Brutalist Northampton Landmark into Mixed-Use Academy - LightingArchitecture Initiative Transforms Derelict Brutalist Northampton Landmark into Mixed-Use Academy - ChairArchitecture Initiative Transforms Derelict Brutalist Northampton Landmark into Mixed-Use Academy - More Images+ 17

Through Bankruptcy and Boom: What's Really Happening in Detroit?

After exiting bankruptcy at the end of last year, Detroit has suddenly become something of a boomtown in the eyes of the media. Discourse now talks about Detroit Rising, the "Post-Post-Apocalyptic Detroit". Rents are rising, private investment is flowing into the city, and institutions that left the city for the affluent suburbs are now relocating back into Detroit proper. Too long used only as a cautionary tale, the new focus on the reality of Detroit and free flowing money opens the door for architects and urban planners, not to mention the wider community, to begin thinking about how they want to rebuild Detroit, and who they want to rebuild it for.

It’s the perfect opportunity to formulate plans that will genuinely aid Detroit, involve the community and create a revival that really achieves something. But as it stands, the "revival" forming in Detroit, aided and abetted by media coverage, will not improve conditions for the vast majority of Detroiters and will not create a sustainable platform for future growth, instead benefiting only the private investors and those rich enough to benefit from what is currently classic, by-the-book gentrification.

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Gallery: Mystical Photos of an Abandoned Chinese Village

Traces of human life lingering behind, forms carving their way through the land and sky, objects left in disuse and air that seems frozen in time -- whether morbid or sublime, abandoned buildings and settlements are an object of fascination and intrigue to architects and non-architects alike. As Shanghai-based photographer Jane Qing's photos of an abandoned village on Gouqi Island in China demonstrate, there is a rare kind of beauty to be found in the left-behind and the neglected.

See more photos after the break.