49 Abandoned Landmarks That Are More Beautiful Than Ever

47. The San Zhi Pod Houses – New Taipei City, Taiwan

Once imagined as a futuristic beachfront resort for wealthy travelers, the San Zhi Pod Houses resemble UFOs crashed into the coastline. Built in the late 1970s, the pastel-colored pods were abruptly abandoned mid-construction following fatal accidents and financial collapse. For decades, the site sat eerily untouched—rows of decaying, sci-fi-style buildings with shattered windows, peeling paint, and sea winds howling through their hollow shells. Though the site was controversially demolished in 2010, its ghostly legacy endures through photos and memories. San Zhi became a global icon of retro-futurist failure—its dreamlike design and tragic history forming a cautionary tale of ambition, aesthetics, and abandonment.