🇹🇼WANLI & SANZHI UFO VILLAGES

 25°11'13.63"N 121°41'09.80"E / 25°15'39.57"N 121°28'38.81"E

(from Wikipedia)

   Futurism was without any doubt a big revolution in the world of architecture: curve structures, sci-fi technology, neon color tones... But the truth is that it didn't became really popular among people as they couldn't "appreciate" the art behind it like the artists did. Therefore, even if it sounds ironic, there are multiple past remains of futuristic buildings. And today we're going to see some very radical ones which were the two UFO Villages of Sanzhi and Wanli in northern Taiwan, designed by the Finnish architect Matti Suuronen.

   Suuronen was in his mid-twenties when he assisted a four-day-workshop where he was presented to fiberglass, the raw material he would later use for his buildings. His first construction was a ski cabin which inspired him for further designs, creating two types of buildings: Venturo and Futuro (another specialty of this architectonic style were the cool-sounding names). And this, believe it or not, made him popular at the time; his ideas were even brought to Taiwan where the previously mentioned settlements of Sanzhi and Wanli were founded.

Matti Suuronen (from Architectuul)

   Hung Kuo was the name of the building company in charge of Sanzhi, the first of the "UFO Villages". This Futuro and Venturo house community was designed to serve as a vacation site for U.S. Army officers who were scattered around the area. It looked a very promising project, symbolizing also the rapid growth of Taiwanese industry and wealth; but it certainly wasn't. Sanzhi was still in construction when the company had generous investment losses and was nearly in bankruptcy, leading to an interruption of the project. After 10 years in abandonment, the boss of a local beer house took over... but only lasted a year as a result of internal conflicts and bad design. After that, it was clear that Sanzhi was out of time, so it became a ghost town. But the most tragic part was yet to come.

    Some years later, many conspiracy theories developed after a series of mysterious deaths because of car accidents and suicides of the builders who once worked there. Some affirm it was haunted by ghosts (as there are rumors that Sanzhi was built over the burial ground of Dutch soldiers from the 17th century), whereas other say it was a series of misfortunes (these misfortunes are linked to the possible destruction of a Chinese dragon statue during Sanzhi's construction, which brings bad luck). Anyway, in 2010, authorities demolished the complex leaving behind only old photographs and stories.

Satellite view of Sanzhi UFO Village before its demolition (from Failed Architecture)

   Luckily for urban adventurers and Instagrammers, its twin village, Wanli, still exists; nonetheless, it hasn't got such a variety of curious stories to tell. Wanli is just the elder brother of Sanzhi, which lasted less, is more forgotten (even the demolition department forgot about it) and is uglier. Situated some kilometers east of Sanzhi, its purpose was the same but likewise couldn't be finished, this time, because of weak diplomatic ties between the USA and Taiwan. In the present, Wanli looks more likely a junkyard of flying saucers than a beach resort, yet, most houses are visitable.

  In summarize, these were the rather desperate stories of the futuristic villages... which had no future.

One of the Futuro houses at Wanli (from CNET)

Sources: Foreigners in Taiwan, Rethinking the Future, CNET, The World of Interiors, Atlas Obscura