Weekend Diversion: Urban decay

The video above was shot using a drone flying through the old Packard Motor Car Company factory in Detroit Michigan. It’s about history, really, and what happens when people abandon places.

The 325,000 square metre (3,500,000-square-foot) plant was designed by architect Albert Kahn and is located on over 40 acres. Built beginning in 1903 and completed in 1911, it featured the first use of reinforced concrete for industrial construction in Detroit, and in its day was the most modern car manufacturing facility in the world.

The factory closed in 1958, four years after Packard merged with Studebaker. Four years later, the merged company dropped “Packard” from their name and became Studebaker Corporation. In 1966, the last Studebaker was manufactured and a year later the company essentially disappeared (the name itself lasted until 1979, though buried in conglomerate).

The Packard site in Detroit was used by other companies into the late 1990s, and apparently—despite the obvious vandalism and decay—much of the facility is still structurally sound. The site was sold in late October of this year, but there’s no word yet on what will happen to it.