Six industrial silos along the heart of Vancouver’s waterfront have been transformed into colorful, towering human figures in a massive mural project by Brazilian street artist duo Os Gemeos. The identical twins, known for large-scale and often politically-charged urban art, raised funds via IndieGoGo to complete the project for the Vancouver Biennale.

The silos are a landmark for the city, sitting within an ocean cement manufacturing and distribution plant on Granville Island, but they’re not exactly nice to look at. While the rest of the island is brimming with colorful plants and costumed buskers, the silos stand as the final tie to its industrial past.

The Sao Paulo-based brothers raised over $25,000 for the 2014-2016 Biennale exhibition celebrating art in public spaces, helping to offset the total cost. The finished work, which will be the team’s largest yet, will be unveiled on September 7th, 2014. The mural will measure a total of 23,500 square feet and stand 75 feet tall.

“We have an ongoing project called ‘Giants’ that has been realized in several places in the world such as Greece, USA, Poland, Portugal, the Netherlands, Brazil and England, and we will continue now in Canada, but with a difference. As the proposed Biennale has a strong connection with sculpture, we decided to find a place where the painting can be transformed, creating a dialogue between the two-dimensional and three-dimensional worlds.”

“Another aim of this project is to bring new characters to Vancouver while sharing perspectives and cultures and establishing a relationship between the people who frequent this site and integrate this work into city scenery. The connection between water and land on Granville Island, on the false creek margins, also had a lot to do with the choice of location – for us, the water acts as a vein, symbolizing life, and it is very present in our work.”

(Check out our complete collection of 100+ Abandoned Buildings, Places and Property.)

Missile silos might be the world’s most amazing abandonments. There is something about their immense scale, implicit secrecy, loaded history and and underground location that makes them an exciting target for urban exploration. Here are some fascinating examples of deserted subterranean silos one can visit and even purchase!

One set of intrepid building infiltrators set about breaking into the above missile silo (location undisclosed) at risk of both personal injury and federal penalty. Despite their retroactive warnings not to follow their example, these adventurers produced an amazing photo-documentary of their journey. As you navigate their website, it becomes a kind of choose-your-own-adventure tale allowing you to pick your path.

The Minuteman Missile Tour exists at the opposite end of the legal spectrum, providing a fun and interesting but completely safe and legitimate tour through an abandoned missile complex. Located in South Dakota, annual summer tours regularly fill completely with people who are curious about America’s past and the days of the Cold War, when fears of Mutually Assured Destruction haunted the country’s psyche. Also be out this amazing collection of missiles, rockets and other weapons.

Last but not least, it is even possible to buy your own abandoned missile silo and associated complex! Even better: you can do so from the comfort of your computer via eBay for 15 million dollars. Of course, you may have have to sell your house to afford the $300,000 downpayment, but wouldn’t it be worth it? The people who bought one and converted it into a luxury home with a private landing strip certainly thought so (below) as well as the retired couple living in one shown in this video: