DISCLAIMER: I feel ashamed to post this one, simply because every man and his dog has done this one. I'm mainly posting it because some of the photos turned out nice.
History
Sathorn Unique Tower is an unfinished skyscraper in the Thai capital city Bangkok. Planned as a high-rise condominium complex, construction of the building was halted during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, when it was already about 80 percent complete. It is now among the most prominent of Bangkok's many derelict buildings, and has become a destination for urban explorers.Despite being officially off-limits to the public, access reportedly can be gained by bribing security guards on the premises. The building reappeared in the news in December 2014, when the body of a Swedish man was found hanged on the 43rd floor. The cause of death was determined to be suicide, though the news prompted discussion regarding the safety and security of the building.
In September 2015, Pansit Torsuwan, now a member of the board of Sathorn Unique Co., revealed that he had filed criminal charges of trespassing against five people who had posted material on the Internet, including a pair of foreigners who had created a video of themselves freerunning on the tower. He said that this was done in order to set an example and deter people from climbing the building, which is dangerous. He added that the number of people illegally entering the premises had risen sharply during the past year, following an increase in online exposure, with over a hundred people entering on some weekends.
- Wiki
The Explore
I was alone for this one but encountered a few people on the way back down. I heard footsteps the entire time; but each time I investigated it, it would turn out to be water dripping. There are several staircases in the building, as you would expect, but all are sealed off at the ground floor. There is a basement (potentially underground parking) but the guard explained that it was full of snakes and nobody should be going down there. I am prepared to take his word for it as this is fairly common with such underground spaces in BKK.
The Photos
The building itself
According to some sources online, THIS is a point of access. The gap is easily >3m across and far
too many stories high. I assumed this was a joke although there were signs that people tried making a
rope bridge. Then again, the world record for long jump is 8.95m so I guess anything is possible...
Ooooh, so dark and brooding....
There is graffiti everywhere... Lots of scary slogans such as "Beware all ye who enter", but also these silhouettes... These are great at making your arse pucker when you spin around and point your flashlight at it.
Thankfully someone disarmed some of them by spraying a huge penis onto them, although I can see how that might make it scarier... Especially in Bangkok.
This is the roof of the building. Men and women much braver than me have scaled to the very top of the structure but I called it quits after scaling both of the rickety ladders.
Some great views from up here... Sadly some of the photos are too large to be uploaded here but this is a taster.
A splash of life? In a dead building? Very deep and symbolic stuff going on here...
People have wrote essays on far less.
One of the stairways down from the roof. The stairs were actually in much worse condition for much of the climb,
but this was a stairwell that is less commonly used. The main one has crumbling concrete and rebar sticking out of the steps.
Message to twatpackers: not to be attempted in flipflops.
One of the many, many shafts in the building. There are multiple empty lift shafts to look down too but I only
have video footage of those.
Hopefully this wasn't too painful to go through - I appreciate that this is probably one of the most overdone sites in the world of UrbEx!
History
Sathorn Unique Tower is an unfinished skyscraper in the Thai capital city Bangkok. Planned as a high-rise condominium complex, construction of the building was halted during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, when it was already about 80 percent complete. It is now among the most prominent of Bangkok's many derelict buildings, and has become a destination for urban explorers.Despite being officially off-limits to the public, access reportedly can be gained by bribing security guards on the premises. The building reappeared in the news in December 2014, when the body of a Swedish man was found hanged on the 43rd floor. The cause of death was determined to be suicide, though the news prompted discussion regarding the safety and security of the building.
In September 2015, Pansit Torsuwan, now a member of the board of Sathorn Unique Co., revealed that he had filed criminal charges of trespassing against five people who had posted material on the Internet, including a pair of foreigners who had created a video of themselves freerunning on the tower. He said that this was done in order to set an example and deter people from climbing the building, which is dangerous. He added that the number of people illegally entering the premises had risen sharply during the past year, following an increase in online exposure, with over a hundred people entering on some weekends.
- Wiki
The Explore
I was alone for this one but encountered a few people on the way back down. I heard footsteps the entire time; but each time I investigated it, it would turn out to be water dripping. There are several staircases in the building, as you would expect, but all are sealed off at the ground floor. There is a basement (potentially underground parking) but the guard explained that it was full of snakes and nobody should be going down there. I am prepared to take his word for it as this is fairly common with such underground spaces in BKK.
The Photos
The building itself
According to some sources online, THIS is a point of access. The gap is easily >3m across and far
too many stories high. I assumed this was a joke although there were signs that people tried making a
rope bridge. Then again, the world record for long jump is 8.95m so I guess anything is possible...
Ooooh, so dark and brooding....
There is graffiti everywhere... Lots of scary slogans such as "Beware all ye who enter", but also these silhouettes... These are great at making your arse pucker when you spin around and point your flashlight at it.
Thankfully someone disarmed some of them by spraying a huge penis onto them, although I can see how that might make it scarier... Especially in Bangkok.
This is the roof of the building. Men and women much braver than me have scaled to the very top of the structure but I called it quits after scaling both of the rickety ladders.
Some great views from up here... Sadly some of the photos are too large to be uploaded here but this is a taster.
A splash of life? In a dead building? Very deep and symbolic stuff going on here...
People have wrote essays on far less.
One of the stairways down from the roof. The stairs were actually in much worse condition for much of the climb,
but this was a stairwell that is less commonly used. The main one has crumbling concrete and rebar sticking out of the steps.
Message to twatpackers: not to be attempted in flipflops.
One of the many, many shafts in the building. There are multiple empty lift shafts to look down too but I only
have video footage of those.
Hopefully this wasn't too painful to go through - I appreciate that this is probably one of the most overdone sites in the world of UrbEx!
