WE WANT PEACE” the graffiti declares beside the crumbling UFO-like buildings of Wanli district; judging from the decaying buildings, broken brick walls, and deserted streets, it doesn’t look like they got it.

There are a lot of good reasons to go to Taiwan – the hiking, the diving, the cycling – but this decrepit enclave overlooking the East China Sea is well worth the journey just north of Taipei.

What I saw was what remained of high-end vacation homes and the architecture ambitions of Finish architect Matti Suuronen: Futuro and Venturo houses. The Futuro dwellings do indeed look like flying saucers, and the Venturo buildings are more angular but wouldn’t look out of place in the Jetsons. The future was very much part of the inspiration – at least what people thought the future would look like in the 1970s and 1980s. It didn’t take long for the future to get post-apocalyptic.

3 mins reading time
Travelogues Logo

Travelogues is an Asia-focused online magazine brought to you by Remote Lands

There's More