The Joy Of Watching Huge Buildings Implode

We love staring at pictures of ruined and demolished buildings — but you know what's even more beautiful and thrilling? Looking at pictures of buildings that are in the middle of being imploded. It's a moment of transcendent beauty... and then it's over. But some of these wonderful instants have been captured forever.

One of the two remaining 13-story buildings at the Edward W. Scudder Homes complex implodes on June 8, 1997, in Newark, New Jersey as part of the Newark Housing Authority transformation of public housing where new homes will be built.

(AP Photo/Michael Sypniewski)

The controlled implosion of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Building in downtown Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Aug. 1, 1998. A new twelve story building will be erected on the site.

(AP Photo/Dan Gleiter)

The Aladdin Hotel & Casino, built in 1966 in Las Vegas, was imploded in April 1998 to make way for the $1.3 billion Aladdin Project, which will be completed in the spring of 2000.

(AP Photo/Lennox McLendon)

An outdated power plant, which stands 207 ft (63 m) high and 148 ft (45 m) in diameter, is seen being demolished, in Ramagundam, near Hyderabad, India, June 20, 1999.

(AP Photo/Namas Bhojani)

The Kingdome in Seattle, Washington begins to collapse moments after being blasted with explosives, March 26, 2000.

(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

The Harbour House in Bal Habour, Florida, is shown as it falls down on 18th January, 2004, to make way for a new high rise building. The implosion has been shown on the television series, "Miami CSI."

(AP Photo/J.Pat Carter)

The Baptist Memorial Hospital Medical Center building implodes, in Memphis, Tennessee to make way for the Memphis Biotech, a new medical research park, on November 6, 2005. This was once the world's largest private hospital, the birthplace of Lisa Marie Presley, and the hospital where Elvis Presley was pronounced dead.

(AP Photo/Greg Campbell)

Implosion of 615 Peachtree in Atlanta, Georgia on September 30, 2006.

(via Justin Burns)

Blasting of a chimney at the former Henninger brewery in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, December 2006

(via Heptagon)

The demolition of the 22-story 24 Crossbank Road, Torgylen, Glasgow, UK, January 2007

(via Rebecca Lai)

The Wulihe Stadium falls to the ground during a controlled implosion in Shenyang, in China's northeast Liaoning Province, February 12, 2007. The controlled implosion, shattered the stadium in a flash of 6.6 seconds.

(AP Photo/EyePress)

Explosion of the Glencairn Tower block, Motherwell, Scotland opened in 1964, blown to pieces in November 2011

(via izismile)

An implosion in Rødovre, Denmark, May 2012

(via Lotte Grønkjær)

Demolition of Thorpe Marsh Power Station, near Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England, June 2012

(via Nathan-22)

Demolition of a block of Red Road Flats, Balornock, Glasgow, Scotland, May 2013

(via Daily Record)