This 85-Year-Old Chinese Building 'Walks' to Its New Location
Have you ever wondered how entire buildings are moved? The usual methods include the use of slide rails or flatbeds but what do you do with a building that has a strange shape?
This is the question that engineers in Shanghai, China were faced with when they had to move a T-shaped 85-year-old primary school. The Lagena Primary School was built in 1935 and needed to be relocated to allow the construction of a new commercial center.
The building weighed a total of seven tonnes making moving it even more complicated. That's when the engineers came up with an ingenious solution—walking the building to its new spot.
For 18 days, 200 specialized devices were placed underneath the building. These devices behaved like robotic legs, lifting and dropping the school up and down, step by step. Seen from the outside and in fast motion, it literally looks like the old building is walking itself.
Engineers are nothing but creative and this video further proves what can be achieved when great minds come together to tackle important problems. No news was given as to how the students adapted to their school's new location. We would venture a guess that they were equally impressed by 'the move'.