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Thursday, October 18, 2012

Architecture The Ruins of Capital

Posted by Charles Mudede on Thu, Oct 18, 2012 at 8:28 AM

The current issue of Arcade, the Northwest's architectural journal, has some glorious black-and-white images of abandoned and dormant urban spaces by Aaron Asis, an architectural photographer...

Permission to Post Image Granted by Arcade Journal

Aaron Asis
Permission to Post Image Granted by Arcade Journal

The reason why I'm fascinated by decaying and abandoned spaces is because they are free from capital. In them, we wonderfully feel the absence of the market's grip. They have no value, no interest, no investments. Some ruins are so massive that capital can't even remove them. They are too expensive to demolish. There are a lot buildings of this kind in Detroit, the subject of a new documentary, Detropia, by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (it opens today at the NWFF); buildings that are radically negative to capital. We float through these spaces.

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uh oh.....

WASHINGTON DC (AP) — Weekly applications for U.S. unemployment benefits jumped 46,000 last week to 388,000, the highest in four months.

Posted by bu-bye!Obama on October 18, 2012 at 9:40 AM

Buildings that are left in ruin and aren't removed can be valued both economically and in standard accounting terms to have negative value. Capital could and would remove them if the land offered enough of a positive economic opportunity to offset the demolition cost. I quibble because I like you, Charles. Nice post.

Posted by David from Chicago on October 18, 2012 at 10:12 AM

SQUAT.....Community...Rave....art....freee space.... TAKE IT!!!

Posted by pupuguru on October 18, 2012 at 10:15 AM

$$$?

Charles,
your review of Detropia is excellent.

I was just in Detroit (they're opening a branch of the Patent Office there). I was surprised to see abandoned sky-scrapers, even. Were I to move there, my government salary would go far compared to the DC area. I just found the place depressing, so it probably won't happen.

Posted by Sandiai on October 18, 2012 at 10:52 AM

most of the value of your property in Seattle is the land, not the house.

you can buy a replacement house for about $20,000 to $40,000, actually.

Maybe not an ultra-fancy one, but way better than your parents had.

Posted by Will in Seattle