Hard Work

Abandoned industry and businesses. The industrial revolution that has left it’s heritage.

It can be disorienting to examine these intricate and well-ordered spaces without the humans that once made use of them. Levers un pulled, buttons unpressed, and gears rusted into place seem at odds with these workplaces built around them. Factories and power plants, mills and potteries, mines and breweries – once the heart of a working community, they’re little more than relics of modern history now, left to wash away in the tides of time.

Even at a glance, the importance of these structures is immediately clear – the care taken in their layout and architecture is a language spoken in the recent past, a dedication to production and efficiency as well as thoughtful design. Now, nature and decay take their stations to apply their mutual effort, with sinewy vines pulling down bricks and creeping moss meticulously covering man-made surfaces and silhouettes.

Across Europe, many industrial sites were completely neglected after shutting down due to outdated machinery or material-polluted sites that would be too costly to clean or renovate. For these titans of industry, no money was spared in the creation of the buildings; unfortunately that financial willingness vanished in favor of their eventual abandonment.

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One of my favorite locations in this series is the astonishing design of the Kelenfold power station. With its stunning Art Deco control room and an oval stained glass ceiling, it’s absolutely unique – particularly. Nowadays nothing is built in this architectural design. When compared to the sparse, grey tones found in modern and tech-centric workplaces.