Abandoned buildings and industrial areas

Anyone else hold an interest in these areas? Like, for instance, an old quarry I go past on the way to work. You might think, 'Now how does this relate to Half-Life', well, Half-Life is highly inspirational because of all the post disaster/abandoned places that you visit. It is interesting to see the old rooms, notices on boards, etc etc etc. If you're lucky you may come across some old machinery even! I believe Urbexing is what they call the exploration of certain abandoned buildings. So is anyone else interested in looking and exploring such places? If it's on Google street view perhaps you can post a picture of it. These types of places are good inspiration for HL2 maps

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Just Kidding

Just Kidding

www.abandonded-places.com has some really cool creepy places to check out. Would probably make some good maps.

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Light is faster than sound:That is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

Your riches in life are family and friends, everything else is just a distraction.

Yeah, when I see stuff like that I always want to go check it out. Great for inspiration

Yeah derelict buildings interest me but I don't see them too often in my day to day life.

http://industrialdecay.blogspot.com/

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Aaron's Stuff

Some great links here guys

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Just Kidding

Just Kidding

Here's some more sites I looked at:
www.graveaddiction.com
www.abandondedbuilding.com
www.weburbanist.com

You have to dig a bit but some really good pics

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Light is faster than sound:That is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

Your riches in life are family and friends, everything else is just a distraction.

Thanks sgtfly. Will be sure to have a look

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Just Kidding

Just Kidding

There is a site dedicated to these places in our area called "Undergroundozarks.com"

/me waves at Brad..

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Hey yo Nickelplate! Long-time no-see! You still lurk about?

Also, There was a site I had found about 4 years back that had this wonderful collection of awesome real abandoned buildings (factories, homes, industrial stuff) and it was essentially an art portfolio, with each and every building he visited having their own profile. (It wasn't the best of navigation schemes).

I loved what I saw there; I visited every page on his site to copy all the images. At the time, my connection wasn't the best, so I downloaded a little everyday. Took me a week to get everything and make sure I wasn't downloading the same stuff. There were in total over 450 pics. A month later, his site was gone. I felt soo lucky

So I've had them ever since. The site was called "Abandoned Inspiration" And was really all about how this guy made his way into these abandoned places to take his photos. Usually, catching buildings right before they would be scheduled or demolition. So, he committed a lot of trespassing, and was even arrested on occasion. So, maybe his site was seized or some other dilemma, but either way, this thread has inspired me to share them all with you! They've come in real handy for inspiration, and I hope you'll enjoy them too!

Download link (18.6 MB): abandoned_inspiration.zip
[EDIT]: I uploaded it to the Pit so everyone can find it!, link here first: http://www.snarkpit.net/index.php?s=forums&f=7&t=11929&tp=0#211014

If you're unsure you want to DL these images, here are a few samples taken from the zip: And that's just 10! Each of those buildings/places have more than the 1 pic seen above. And there are way many more places in there too. -And yes, most of them are black&white, that was just his style I suppose.

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Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202

http://www.infrastructurist.com/2009/08/11/abandoned-subway-stations-around-the-world-photo-gallery/

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Just Kidding

Just Kidding

Ooh, that's a good one!

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Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202

Maybe I'm just a dork, but that pic with the chandelier and pony-toy reminded me of fight club. heh!

Great lil peek at some ideas there Riven, maybe sometime I'll take the time to download the whole package.

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"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most" -Ozzy Osbourne

Wow Riven those old photos really make me want to recreate them. That reminds me of a Half-Life 2 setting, in the underground tunnels after Alyx gets captured. That just looks really really.. I can't describe it. For some strange reason I want to be there right now, and I know how strange that sounds. There's just something about that setting that's very inviting.

Yea, they're really really good. And those two especially, are very Half-Life-Like. The oil drums really make that scene into something half-life don't they?

I know what ya mean about it being inviting. It's something my friend and I use to do when we were younger. We'd ride our bikes across town and go exploring in some abandoned utility places. None of them were as large or cool looking as the pics above (small town), but we do have a lot of chemical industry around my area, and there are a lot of abandoned rail yards for where the sulfur mines used to be. Fun times. Abandoned places just make for a cool setting. They're cliche, but I'm not bored of them yet after all these years.

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Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202

Heh, Riven you're story reminds me of something not too long ago that I did. There is this old abandoned railroad yard near where I used to go to college. I went to explore this area:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=new+Town+Rd,+Ashford&sll=51.138984,0.880065&sspn=0.004308,0.012767&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=New+Town+Rd,+Ashford,+United+Kingdom&layer=c&cbll=51.138982,0.880057&panoid=isXyHt0R5mnDkB8xVf_TdQ&cbp=12,95.66,,0,4.89&ll=51.147371,0.880108&spn=0,0.051069&z=14

I drove my car in all the way upto the warehouses and had a good look around. They were so big that I could have easily drove right in but the structure did not look safe so I didn't venture into any of them. On the concrete yard there were railroad tracks burried into the concrete, it must have been some sort of factory for something. Eventually the security guard cycled up to me and told me to get the hell out of there or he would write down my license plate and inform the cops Can't blame him, he was only doing his job I guess.

Edit:Sorry, it seems that I can't embed Google maps

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Just Kidding

Just Kidding

This looks like another good one:http: www.infiltration.org

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Just Kidding

Just Kidding

Oh, I forgot to reply to this thread earlier!

-About your adventure Flynn, that's always exciting to be in a place you're not supposed to; it's kind of like a spy mission or something

My friend told me a good story one time about being caught in an old abandoned factory building (a small plot of land with a large 6 story industrial brick & mortar building with huge machines lining the interior). It's in New Orleans and they were actually going up to just hit golf-balls and rocks into the river with golf clubs; they visit it all the time and call it "the wasteland." -Sounds like fun.

Well, as part of the new 'clean-up' act by the new mayor of New Orleans, they had some undercover cops stationed there whom my friends didn't see. They eventually were cornered and arrested, but managed to talk their way out of it before being put in the police car. Apparently one of the guys had a brother who was a detective in the N.O. police force. One call and the whole thing was over.

Apparently the cops thought they would find weed on them or something, but they were able to prove they were really just going up there to hit golf-balls into the river.

-And that site you posted is a really good find! I might buy their book if it's worthwhile! -As an architecture student we're encouraged to get as many architecture books as possible. Believe me, the internet doesn't have the best pictures! Most things worth looking at in the design world, cost money!

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Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202

Thanks Riven, I guess working in the industry you are quite partial to older structures whenever you go past them. That sounds like a lucky escape for you're friends, when you say a phone call and it's all over, do you mean the attempted arrest or would their brothers' career be in jeopody if he was found to have drugs on his person? If it is the first one then they really had nothing to worry about all along after all.

What I find a shame is that the authorities don't let people explore these areas; most of the time they just let them sit there unused and wasted. It's funny I found that website btw, I wasn't even looking for that sort of thing, I simply followed a link from a forum thread. Really gotta love it when you find machines in these places though. That is really something special, as opposed to a building filled with trash.

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Just Kidding

Just Kidding

Mortuaries

http://reality-trip.com/2010/06/30/top-10-mortuarys/

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Just Kidding

Just Kidding