Chicago’s Fulton Market Cold Storage Company was housed in a 10-story building in the meatpacking district for 90 years until last July, when they decided to move to a warehouse in the suburbs. The building was sold to bike component manufacturer SRAM to be converted into their world headquarters. Architects Perkins + Will were tasked with turning the ice-encrusted building into a modern machine shop, workspace, and indoor cycling track for SRAM. What ensued was one of the most epic building defrosts in history. Fortunately talented professional photographer Gary Jensen was there to snap some amazing before shots, a sampling of which are below. Head to his site for the whole mesmerizing set. The thawing was also documented in this timelapse video, spanning from 7 p.m. on November 8 to around noon on November 13. You get a flash of the large propane heaters they brought in to speed things up at the 24 second mark.
{via Colossal]
24 thoughts on “Epic Building Defrost”
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That is crazy. I’m about to watch so I can see where all the water went.
That’s really crazy but still amazing pics…Loved it……:)
April Fools?
Those are some lovely pictures.
Kind of reminds me of you know who’s fortress of solitude ^^
I hope they leave the door open, that would be one stinky refrigerator.
What? No Jimmy Hoffa?
So Cool! Really….
WOW! It’s amazing that the room was even functional with that much ice built up in it. If the freezer in my house had filled up like that it would be worthless. I’d like to see some pics of it when it was in use.
They never dared film it when they thawed London’s Billingsgate fish market (frozen 1875, thawed 1982) as it was far from certain whether the only thing holding the building together was the ice.
I’m missing something… how exactly is this still frozen after being unused for so long? Does the construction somehow achieve 100% insulation from the outside temps?
Can anyone explain the various forms the ice displayed: wispy threads, rectangular crystals, etc. I think i get the stalagtite-stalagmite formations from thawing and refreezing.
It is really awesome cold storage building.