Rama III tower complex, Bangkok, Thailand
Devastated Rama III towers, Bangkok, Thailand
Ghost tower reflection, Bangkok, Thailand
Poor neighbour, Bangkok ghost tower, Thailand
Rama III towers and river, Bangkok, Thailand
Ghost tower model, Bangkok, Thailand
View to former ghost tower, Rama III, Bangkok, Thailand
Lift shaft, Bangkok ghost tower, Thailand
Escalators, Bangkok ghost tower, Thailand
Abandoned glass sheets, Bangkok ghost tower, Thailand
Abandoned Fire Hydrant, Ghost Tower, Bangkok, Thailand
Man scavanging metal, Ghost Tower, Bangkok, Thailand
Nan's place, Bangkok ghost tower, Thailand
Carpenter at rest, Bangkok ghost tower, Thailand
Young resident of Bangkok ghost tower, Thailand
Fishing in swimming pool, Bangkok ghost tower, Thailand
Jack examines architect's plans, Bangkok ghost tower, Thailand
1997 dated architect's plans, Bangkok ghost tower, Thailand
Oriental Hotel ball room plans II, Bangkok ghost tower, Thailand
Making dinner in room shared by four Burmese workers, Bangkok ghost tower, Thailand
Burmese worker and television, Bangkok ghost tower, Thailand
Burmese worker in conversation, Bangkok ghost tower, Thailand
Carpenters at work II, Bangkok ghost tower, Thailand
Residents, Bangkok ghost tower, Thailand
Burmese couple, Bangkok ghost tower, Thailand
Motorcycle taxi driver, Bangkok ghost tower, Thailand

 

As dusk settles on Bangkok and the city's high-rise towers flicker into light, a series of multi-storey shadows stand out against the sky. These are the ghost towers: Bangkok's forgotten skyscrapers.

Leftovers from the 1997 Asian financial crisis, these dark shells are some of the five hundred high-rise projects put on hold when the economy collapsed. Ranging from five storey offices to 60 storey condominiums, these rotting modern ruins pepper the skyline over ten years after the workmen walked out.

In Bangkok, however, one person's disaster is another's opportunity, and the homeless have been swift to recognise the towers' potential. Throughout the capital the poor now inhabit billions of dollars of real estate.

In one sixty storey condo situated on prime land beside the Chao Praya river, seven people live in rough houses amidst hardened bags of cement and escalators that have never moved. The luxurious, half lain teak floors and partially installed bathrooms of the upper storeys have been left to a pack of stray and mangy dogs.

In the north of the city another abandoned development houses construction workers and Burmese refugees. These enterprising settlers have installed French windows and built sturdy plywood rooms, furnishing them with sofas, carpets and televisions. A communal faucet provides running water and the abandoned swimming pool has been converted into a fish farm.

But as international capital begins to flow back into the Thai economy, the abandoned shells have once again begun to attract the interest of developers. Residents are being evicted, builders are returning and investors prepared to take on the structural risks are starting to see substantial returns.

As the tide of global finance returns to Thailand's shores, one by one Bangkok's ghost towers are disappearing.

Disappearing Ghost Towers