Sanzhi UFO houses were a set of abandoned and never completed pod-shaped buildings in Sanzhi District, New Taipei, Taiwan. UFO houses of Sanjhih also known as the Sanjhih pod houses or Sanjhih Pod City were constructed in early 1980 as a vacation resort in a part of the northern coast adjacent to Danshui and was marketed towards US military officers coming from their East Asian postings.
The original idea for concrete buildings with fibre-reinforced plastic coverings came from plastics manufacturer Yu-Chou-Co. In 1980, the project had financial difficulties due to a major loss in investment and this caused the project to shut down and then be abandoned for almost 10 years.
In 1989, Tsai Chin-Hsien, the president of Haicheng Tien local beer company took over the site with a view to completing the project. Unfortunately, it was soon realised that the original designs were not as structurally sound as previously thought and Ufo Houses were constructed in a way not fit to handle seismic activity of the zone. Sanzhi UFO houses were abandoned once again.
Sanzhi UFO houses were scheduled to be torn down in late 2008, despite petition to retain one of the structures as a museum. Demolition work on the site began on December 29, 2008, with plans to redevelop the site into a tourist attraction with hotels and beach facilities By 2010, all of the UFO houses were demolished, and the site was in the process of being converted to a commercial seaside resort and waterpark. As of 2022, the site of former Sanzhi UFO houses still lies idle.
