Epic images show old mines transformed into a library, lab and museum

This epic image (pictured above) shows an inventive reincarnation of an abandoned Chinese quarry as an open-air library. Enclosed bookshelves line the stone, and concrete stairs have been installed to connect the different levels and stone platforms where people can practise calligraphy or sit and read.

“Quarry 8” is one of nine chosen as tourist destinations by local government from thousands of disused quarries in Jinyun county, China. Workers here mined for tuff, a rock formed from volcanic ash, for over 1300 years until 2000.

This is just one example of what derelict mines can become, featured in the book 102 Things to Do With a Hole in the Ground by Peter Whitbread-Abrutat and Robert Lowe. As the world adopts green energy, many mines are expected to close, says Whitbread-Abrutat. “But there are lots of weird, wonderful and surprising ways to reuse these sites.”

The photo above shows the dazzling aluminium frame of an Audi A8 – a revolution in lightweight car design – suspended in the Red Dot Design Museum in Essen, Germany. It is part of the world’s largest exhibition of contemporary design, which contains about 2000 objects selected via the museum’s design awards. The rust-coloured contortions of steel that support the building are remnants of the Zollverein coal mining complex.

The image above shows deep excavations in Australia, now home to the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory, which hunts for dark matter. The lab is more than a kilometre below the remote gold mining town of Stawell, Victoria.

102 Things to Do With a Hole in the Ground is available to buy via the Eden Project online shop.