Shanghai 上 海 - Shanghai Concert Hall 上海音乐厅

In 2003, the 73-year-old Shanghai Concert Hall was moved from its original position to a new location just 66.46 meters away. The first phase of the project, to cut the building from its base and elevate it by 1.7 meters, ended on April 30, 2003 and it started moving in May. The building reached its destination in August. The new concert hall opened to the public by January 1, 2004. The plan was the largest and most difficult building relocation project ever attempted in China. Experts from Tongji University unanimously believed that no known methods from home or abroad could have offered assistance for the groundbreaking push. The moving project cost over 70 million yuan (US $ 8.45 million), far exceeding the budget of 50 million yuan (US $ 6.04 million). Some people argued the expense of moving the building already substantially surpassed that of erecting a brand-new concert hall. Plus, as the risk of moving such an old building such a long distance was extremely high, they said, it should not have been moved at all. The city was persuaded to launch the project because the building was one of the hallmarks of the city’s architectural and cultural heritage. The Shanghai Concert Hall sits in the city’s downtown area. As early as 1996, there was a plan to build the Yan’an Donglu Viaduct on the concert hall’s original location. However, considering its long history, city planners only took 8 square-meters were removed from the blueprint for the bridge, keeping the premises intact. After a massive renovation plan of the city’s downtown area was launched in 2001, the concert hall turned out to be smack bang in the middle of a new subway station, on paper at least. It left two options for the concert hall—it would either be pulled down or moved somewhere else. In survey, however, experts and the majority of Shanghai residents aired the opinion that it would be an incorrigible mistake to lose the building. The concert hall is one of the few fine examples of Chinese architecture in the classical Baroque style of Western design. It holds a special place in the history of modern Chinese architecture. Zhao Shen赵深 (1898-1978) and Fan Wenzhao (1893-1979), two Chinese architects, originally designed the building as the Nanjing Grand Theatre (now Shanghai Concert Hall) 南京大戏院（今上海音乐厅）in 1929. It features elegant ionic pillars with beautiful relief in the façade, marble interior walls and many other meticulous details. When the concert hall was completed in 1930, it was regarded as the best theatre in Shanghai. The New York Times wrote a story comparing it with the then best theatres in the United States. The theatre was used to screen the premiers of many Hollywood movies and was changed into a concert hall in 1959, thanks to its quality acoustics. Although moving it was not the best way to preserve the historical building, when compared with the fate of destruction, the moving option was the only way out. For the experts, how to preserve the original acoustics of the concert hall posed the biggest challenge. In 1962, a survey of acoustics of all the theatres in Shanghai showed that of the concert hall was No 1. The reverberation time of low frequencies if more than 1.8 seconds in the concert hall. While the reverberation time of mid-range frequencies is 1.5 seconds, showing its first-class standard. Thus the Shanghai Concert Hall is a good place not only for ensemble performances but for solos as well.

Under the plan chosen, the concert hall was separated from its base and then jacks were put under the building to hoist it in the air. Once pushed to its new home, it was set down. Actuant China Ltd provided the machinery and technical support for the project. A total of 59 hydraulic cylinders were carefully laid under the building, which worked as jacks in the lifting process. This operation was the result of months of meticulous calculation and examination of the building’s structure. The cylinders were controlled by one computer terminal and the movement error in between the 59 points was designed to be within 0.2 millimeters. It was an unprecedented project for Actuant. Most of the technology and software used in the project were brand new and unique, so while working on the project, they applied patents for them. Every time the building was lifted 100 millimeters, the experts from Tongji University checked the whole structure to guarantee even the slightest bit of damage was not done. After the entire undertaking was completed, the concert hall was the only building inside an expansive lawn area in downtown Shanghai. Listening to classical music in a Baroque-style building surrounded by lush trees and a vast stretch of grassland will give everyone who visits the Shanghai Concert Hall unforgettable memories.

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