A few days after they started demolishing the old school with the lights still on, I noticed that another well published demolition site had commenced. For years there had been plans to build a hotel in the marketplace of Oulu next to the market hall. The plans had been drawn, yet nothing had happened.
There was an old brick building perhaps from the 1950’s, which would give way to the new hotel. It had previously housed social and environment offices of the city, but was now empty. And one single walk through the marketplace on an ice cold winter evening revealed, that something had finally started to happen.
Signs about demolition beginning, construction fences, excavators. And the lights are on in most of the building. I do not understand what they’re doing. Shouldn’t they cut off electricity before tearing the place down.
This was a strange project anyway. They tore down the buildings, then nothing happened. The city took action, then the foundations were built. Then nothing happened. It’s been around four years now, and the hotel is almost complete. Needless to say, I’d have preferred to see that building stay.
But the strangest thing in all this was, that this was the third abandoned and soon to be demolished building that I photographed in a month. And I had no interest whatsoever to try to get inside. I really had lost my passion.