What does the Satorn Tower, the largest abandoned skyscraper in the world, look like
In Bangkok's Satorn district, one of the most famous abandoned buildings in the city — the Unique Satorn Tower (Sathorn Unique) rises by as many as 49 floors and 185 meters. In the early 1990s, Thailand experienced the largest economic upturn in its history. At this time of abundance, Bangkok began to demonstrate its stability by building high-rise buildings.
This was followed by the Asian financial crisis of 1997, and Thailand's economic success stopped: money depreciated literally overnight. It is possible, of course, to explain why such a grandiose building was abandoned, but the history of the construction and oblivion of the Satorn Tower is a little more complicated.
The 49-storey residential complex was originally designed for 600 apartments. Now the gradually crumbling building stands alone and silently looks at the Chau Phraya River. Despite the fact that it is forbidden and dangerous to enter it, the skyscraper has been a favorite place for industrial tourism and base jumping for the past 20 years.
Initially, the building was planned to accommodate luxury residential apartments, offices of Thai and foreign enterprises.
In addition, it was planned to place several casinos and expensive restaurants on the upper floors of the respectable complex. The most interesting failed project was a swimming pool, which was going to be built on the 49th floor of a skyscraper. A beautiful panorama of the streets of the capital of Thailand could be opened from the pool.
It's a pity, but no one is still trying to reconstruct the building.
The building was designed by a well-known architect and real estate developer, who also created a similar State Tower building, Rangsan Torsuwan. The project was launched in 1990, owned by Sathorn Unique Co. Ltd. and was mainly financed by Thai Mex Finance and Securities Company. Construction began in the same year when Si Phraya Co. Ltd. became the main contractor.
In 1993, due to a controversial situation, the settlement of which lasted for fifteen years, Rangsan was arrested on charges of conspiracy to assassinate the President of the Supreme Court, Praman Chansue (the murder did not take place). Rangsan was found guilty in 2008, but was acquitted by the Court of Appeal in 2010. However, this case significantly undermined Rangsan's ability to provide financial support for his projects, and the construction of the State Tower was delayed due to lack of funds.
When the Asian financial crisis broke out in 1997, the Bangkok real estate market collapsed, and the companies that financed the project went bankrupt and were subsequently liquidated. Construction projects across the city have stalled, and there are more than 300 unfinished high-rise projects left in Bangkok.
Most of these buildings (including the State Tower) They were gradually completed as the economy recovered, but the unique Satorn Tower remains among a dozen or so unfinished "ghost towers" of Bangkok, despite negotiations and refinancing handled by Rangsan's son Pansit Torsuwan, who joined Rangsan's firm in 2004. This was largely due to the fact that Rangsan, instead of declaring bankruptcy and dissolving the company, insisted that the project would be sold only at a price that would allow it to fully return its value to the original buyers of the building.
Rangsan's style has been described as "exultant postmodernism, an architectural substitution in which styles and eras are fused together without any signs of restraint."
Like a similar building, the State Tower, the design of the Unique Satorn Tower is distinguished by the use of neo-Greek elements, especially in columns and balconies. While the construction of the main frame of the building has been largely completed (it is estimated that construction is 80-90 percent complete) and the overall structure of the building is considered safe, interior decoration and infrastructure development have barely begun just before the construction was stopped, and walls and structural details, especially on the upper levels, also remain unfinished.
Local Thai kids sometimes sneak into the territory of an abandoned house to see ghosts, but many children are afraid of this house because of the frightening stories of local residents.
To get to the building, you need to get off at the BTS Saphan Taksin station and walk for five minutes. You will see the Sathorn Unique building directly from BTS, so don't get lost.
Perhaps today Bangkok has more abandoned buildings than any other city in the world. The financial crisis has done its job. But today, 15 years later, the Thai economy has recovered and many beautiful and brilliant skyscrapers have been built and are still being built.
And such skyscrapers as the Unique Satorna Tower are rather monuments reminiscent of the era of the late XX century, which was marked by the rise and decline of the economy, and part of the history of the city.