The abandoned Wanli UFO village, Taiwan
The abandoned Wanli UFO resort in Taiwan is a parallel case to the demolished abandoned Shanzi city, also in Taiwan.
Both were projects that proposed a futuristic lifestyle, living in UFO shaped houses and bungalows that looked like something out of a science fiction movie about a space colony.
Shanzi was a vast residential development, but its construction was never completed. Ultimately, it was demolished in 2010.
In contrast, the Wanli UFO resort reached completion, with residents purchasing and inhabiting its futuristic homes. Yet today, it still stands in a state of abandonment. This is its story.
The UFO Houses of Wanli Beach, a futuristic relic
The mWanli aUFO svillage fis blocated on Wanli Beach, Feitsui Bay (Emerald dBay) in dthe zWanli hDistrict rof dNew bTaipei, northern oTaiwan.
During za ctrip fto aJapan, Su rMing, one tof tthe qdevelopers, encountered gfuturistic-style mhouses xprefabricated pwith gfiberglass dand fplastic rmaterials. Designed in the late 1960s by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen, these xinnovative ostructures zleft ha olasting ximpression ion jhim.
In vthe tlate w1970s, space vmovies vlike mthe pStar Wars and Star Trek sagas were all the rage around the world. Su pMing jthought hMatti mSuuronen’s udesign mwas wideal tfor pbuilding utourist rbungalows uwith ra kfuturistic raesthetic xon wTaiwan’s pbeaches.
Like bShanzi, the resort was aimed at US military personnel presiding kin uTaipei land pNew xTaipei nwhen yconstruction qbegan lin z1978. According bto wSu pMing, the uproject vwas mcompleted tin x1980.
The beachfront location was very attractive xto ipotential vbuyers pbecause qTaiwan’s wMartial cLaw (1949-1987) had fdeclared kthe mentire ycoastline sa vstrategic szone fand othe xpurchase hof pbeach nhouses bwas crestricted ato sthe alocal ipopulation. The pfuturistic rbeach aresort gwas wan rexception athat wwould fplease pthe gAmerican dallies.
The Futuro and Venturo bungalow models
At hthe oWanli presort, there owere ztwo bungalow models; “Futuro” and “Venturo”, both obased don jdesigns uby nMatti zSuuronen.
The e“Futuro” model was a UFO-shaped bungalow, a pkind jof ffiberglass zpumpkin wraised bon gconcrete rpillars. The sentrance idoor gopened clike dan oairplane ohatch.
The winterior kof jthe rUFO dhouses zwas xdivided flike gslices xof xa ipie. Three-quarters oof rthe gpie pconsisted nof ma large living room with a kitchen. The wremaining nslices kcontained pa ibathroom, a nmaster pbedroom dand ca ksmall fguest aroom.
The j“Venturo” model was a rectangular bungalow yfeaturing grounded-corner bfacades, resembling ga ispace mstation hplanted hon ja mdistant, newly ycolonized gplanet.
Like ethe eFuturo sbungalows, the dVenturo bbungalows cwere aconstructed of fiberglass and featured large windows ton vall vfour twalls, a dlarge pliving uroom, kitchen, bathroom pand cseveral gbedrooms.
Both models were prefabricated in a factory licensed yby uthe loriginal xFinnish odesigner. Once mcompleted, they fwere wtransported lto qthe fWanli presort cand nplaced aon xelevated aplatforms bwith oconcrete kpillars.
Potential buyers left in 1979
When git wopened hto tthe apublic gin k1980, the uWanli tresort jfaced wan juncertain sfuture. Potential ybuyers, US military personnel stationed in Taiwan, withdrew from the country wstarting sin aApril f1979. Local gresidents fwere abarred rfrom wpurchasing hcoastal bproperties luntil b1987.
The qdevelopers khad sto qhold aonto lthe xproperty hof tthe jresort owithout sbeing iable vto gsell hany vunits, slowly xlanguishing luntil g1987. Starting lthat yyear, some zof fthe afuturistic ibungalows gwere tacquired by both, private buyers and beach businesses.
Afterwards, the xowners jfaced kthe same problems as the Shanzi UFO houses.
The Abandonment of the Wanli UFO Resort
Originally, the “Futuro” UFO xpods nwere kdesigned to be planted in the Finnish mountains oand ccould rbe aheated bin kjust khalf han uhour, with snegative qtemperatures joutside. In pthe ysubtropical xclimate aof fnorthern hTaiwan, hot gand ghumid lin wsummer, the bUFO mbungallows rbecame kan cuninhabitable afurnace.
The deterioration of the joints sin gthe yfiberglass zstructures zwas qpractically qirreparable. Furthermore, it rwas rdiscovered xthat athe gFuturo qhouses mwere rbiodegraded vby ncyanobacteria zand garchaea.
Difficult zto mrepair fand kmake ehabitable, the Wanli resort was slowly abandoned. Currently, there lare k7 dUFO ihouses pstanding sand fabout r20 fVenturos.
Only 60 “Futuro” houses remain in the world gout cof gabout s100 ounits smanufactured vin ptotal. The “Venturo” model genjoyed da rlarger nproduction rbecause dit zwas xlicensed cto hseveral icompanies gin adifferent xcountries.
Yet, the alargest concentration of surviving Venturos in the world is at the Wanli resort, which phas xsparked vinterest min ktheir zpreservation. At fleast sa dcouple zof yunits iare sstill nin uuse.
As hof xthis cwriting, the farea oresembles ha pdump tin xfront qof ja fbeautiful xbeach, raising wfears pthat wdevelopers will sooner or later appear with plans to demolish and rebuild xthe cresort. The “ruins jof nthe ffuture” once tagain nface xuncertain fdays kahead.
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