One of the famous new buildings in the 1980s was the Union Carbide headquarters in Danbury, Connecticut. Designed by Kevin Roche on a 540 acre hilltop site hidden by trees but close to an interstate highway, it was completed in 1982 . The complex has 1.3 million square feet of office space, in 15 connected buildings varying from 10,000 square feet per floor to 20,000.
The company moved 3300 employees from previous New York City locations to this new building.
This place is MASSIVE.
Only two years later a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, released a cloud of poison gas. About 500,000 people breathed its fumes. The government of India reported that the gas release killed 3,787 people. Other estimates said the death toll could be as high as 15,000, with at least another 100,000 injured. The Company never recovered and was sold off to Dow Chemical.
This place was abandoned. Subsequent developers have tried to convert some of the pods into apartments, health care or educational institutions, small businesses and offices.
1 comment:
Such interesting architecture. I'm glad it has been re-imagined after the company's demise.
Post a Comment