Future Formosan Town
Travelers and photographers from all over the world are constantly looking for that unique experience. That unique take on that unique place that earns the respect and admiration of friends and magazine publishers. With the ever-expanding tourism industry, these places are becoming harder to find, especially if you’re not friends with a local. When traveling to unfamiliar places, it’s easy to take it to the typical tourist spots and charge handsomely for it. Getting to those pristine gems out of the way takes research and effort. Most of the time, it is because of these two requirements that these places remain so beautiful in the first place; and make it that much more rewarding for those who actually make it.
Being an undiscovered gem in East Asia, Taiwan is full of these unexplored areas, making it a brilliant destination for those looking for a unique experience. This weekend I rediscovered one of these destinations that I have called ‘La Villa del Futuro de Formosa’. Below is her colorful story, I hope you enjoy it.
History
Architecture
The 1970s were an interesting time for everyone. New fashion trends, music styles, and lifestyle perspectives were emerging like never before. Now people not only had ideals, but also the money to buy them. There were also trends emerging in the architectural design industry, trying to satisfy the thirst of those looking for a unique home to match their new and unique visions of life. In an era when it was believed that robots and machines would eventually solve all the humanities’ inconveniences, Finnish architect Matti Suuronen designed a new house that he christened ‘Future’.
This new house was designed to eventually be the world standard of all houses, to allow worldwide travel and living for everyone. Constructed of reinforced fiberglass, this 16-piece ‘pod’ or ‘flying saucer’ shaped house was designed to be easy to transport and sustainable in any environment. The basic idea was to buy a house when you live on the beach in Hawaii, and when you want a change of pace and move to the Swiss Alps to live in a ski town, you just blow your house up piece by piece to be rebuilt. All that was needed were four concrete pillars for a base, and the house could be placed on top of them, allowing it to be placed almost anywhere.
In addition to the home’s unique transportable design, the interior was also designed with maximum comfort in mind. The living room had a number of reclining chairs, which people could comfortably sit in or even pull down and out to convert into sleepers for guests. These chairs were along the outside wall facing the center of the house where the kitchen and bar area met. This would have made a great dining room and sitting room for conversation, all in one compact space. Along the back of the home, the master bedroom and bathroom were kept tucked away with privacy and intimacy. An interesting environmental draw for this house was that, using the electric heating system, it could go from -20 degrees to 60 degrees Fahrenheit in just 30 minutes. Incredibly sustainable.
Sadly, fewer than 100 of these houses were built worldwide, which is commonly attributed to the Exxon Mobile crisis and the dramatic rise in the price of oil. The ripple effect of the increase made the plastics for these houses more expensive to produce, and naturally people began to lose interest. Matti Suuronen’s dream of a futuristic world with flying saucer houses whizzing through the air under helicopters died along with his design in the 1980s.
Company-Company
However, before the future of the Future took its course, a savvy Taiwanese businessman shared Matti Suuronen’s dream and took action with it.
Mr. Su Ming was a Taiwanese businessman with a vibrant past in the military during his early years. One of his first ventures was a now popular brand of Sarsaparilla soda that is sold throughout Taiwan. In the early days of it, it was not very popular with the local taste buds and got off to a slow start. However, with the American establishment of military bases in Taiwan as a post for Greater East Asia, Western tastes for culture and food began to develop in the country. Along with this, Mr. Su Mings’ carbonated drink sales skyrocketed and he set up a new factory, becoming a wealthy new member of the ton.
With his new money, Mr. Su Ming was eager to invest and decided to target an upmarket market of Taiwanese nationals buying vacation homes. He decided that water sports and beach life were the attractions he needed to create a beachside community for upper-class Taiwanese. With this in mind, he chose a beautiful beachfront location along Taiwan’s northeast coast, made a real estate investment, and began building a futuristic housing community filled with Futuro design houses as well as boxy beach villas. . The market for him was the super-rich of Taiwan, as these beach villas were originally priced at around what is today equivalent to $94,000 US dollars.
Informed by the local property manager, I was told that eventually the investors lost interest and the project ran out of money. He explained that many of the investors could afford to go abroad to other exotic locations and private villas, leaving little desire for a simple beach property vacation back home.
Also, in an interview with a local dance instructor at the neighboring spa and hotel, I was informed that the weather conditions in the area were extreme year-round; Summers are unbearably hot and winters bring intolerably strong winds and cold waters that break on the beach. He explained that it was not an ideal vacation home location and that the neighborhood had been empty for over 20-30 years.
The present-day result is the ruins of a once-futuristic, deserted, and unstable neighborhood of beachside villas, giving us a small window into what was once a successful businessman’s dream.
shooting experience
Transportation (travel)
Trying to hit the magic hour in the morning for the session, I left around 5:00 am to catch the first bus that would take me to the now-abandoned spa. This was only possible because Taipei’s transportation system is robust, making life easier for those who choose to avoid the danger of riding scooters in busy traffic. Winding through the mountains and watching as the landscape changed from high-rise apartments to hillsides and verdant jungle-covered temples, I couldn’t help but begin to appreciate how easy it was to get out of the mess in Taiwan. In just one hour, he was already on the coast. DSLR and tripod in hand, I got off the bus and saw the first Future.
feeling
The morning was cloudy, as it often is on the shores of Taiwan, which brought a whole new feeling to the stage. With the gray clouds rolling in, the sunlight scattered, and the Future house looming closer, I felt like he was literally about to be kidnapped. The spooky weather and abandoned structures really worked well together, giving me the creepy feeling that I had to go in, shoot and get out.
As I wandered the streets lined with the planned community, the color contrasts and random objects in the ruins presented an amazing window into the past. All Futuro-style houses were a dull orange or faded light yellow, indicating their age and rough past life. There were rust stains running down the sides of each house that resembled bleeding scars caused by years and years of the harsh environment beating them down. The steel canopy poles on each of the square house front porches had been torn apart by the high winds, like pipe cleaners bent by a child.
Overgrown, most of the houses had clearly been deserted for a long time. Surprisingly though, there were still a few where they had rusty padlocks on the doors, TVs inside, and looked like they were inhabited. This gave me the feeling that I was in some kind of abandoned city horror movie and continually checking the shadows to make sure there wasn’t anything creeping up behind me to drive an ax into my back.
I ventured into some of the houses that were not protected with wooden posts and barbed wire bolts to get a better look. I found Japanese-influenced tatami rooms, twin beds with sheets still on, and even toothbrushes along with a bottle of head and shoulder shampoo in one bathroom.
Kitchens with stoves, refrigerators, and air conditioning units still hanging on the wall screamed for the modernity that the entire project was aiming for back then. What I found quite attractive was that in front of the boxy beachfront villas, and below many of the Futuro-designed houses, there were tables and seats along with grills and gardens. It resembled what I thought of as a campsite, where families could gather and cook outdoors to enjoy nature and the company of their loved ones. An interesting contrast of feelings and mood for such a place.
Overall, the energy was a weird mix of extreme creepy offset by a feeling that it could actually have been a very nice community to live in if it had been successful. The interior design of the villas, along with the uniqueness of the community, could have been a very nice place for a camping holiday getaway just a short drive from the capital.
Lessons and enlightenment
The beachside villas established by Mr. Su Ming provide a unique and interesting view into Taiwan’s past and global trends in general. The place is an unmissable opportunity for any traveler or photographer who comes to Taiwan in search of a unique view. Fortunately, he’s so far been able to avoid the bulldozer, unlike his unfortunate West Coast sibling, Pod Houses in SanZhi, but it’s impossible to know when his day will finally be numbered.
Just a short time from Taipei, it’s also a good reminder of how amazing Taiwan is as a travel destination. As one of the undiscovered gems of the east, Taiwan’s landscape and culture remain rich and unique, but the country’s modernity makes it all very accessible. The Undiscovered Taiwan Future Village is an amazing travel experience and I would highly recommend it as a day trip for those who are interested in a place that is off the beaten path, has a unique and rich history, and is all in a very photogenic package.