WATCH: 5-storey building ‘walks’ to new location

People in Shanghai’s Huangpu district were earlier this month amazed by an unusual sight: a “walking” five-storey building.

The 85-year-old Lagena Primary School was lifted off the ground and relocated using a newly developed “walking machine,” which is composed of nearly 200 mobile supports developed by Shanghai Evolution Shift.

The technology is aimed to help move large buildings as part of efforts to preserve the city’s historic structures.

Lan Wuji, chief technical supervisor of the project, said the supports act as robotic legs that emulate the way human legs move.

“It’s like giving the building crutches so it can stand up and then walk,” he said.

The building was relocated to make room for a commercial and office complex due to be completed in 2023.

Previously, building relocation efforts involved structures that were square or rectangular, but the school’s irregular T-shape posed a new challenge of coming up with unusual methods as experts believed the usual techniques of pulling or sliding a building may have put too much strain on the structure.

Lan said the move was also unique because the building had to be moved 203 feet in a curved direction, instead of a straight line.

“During my 23 years of working in this area, I haven’t seen any other company that can move structures in a curve,” he said.