3 ms·

This is incredible -- serious question -- has anything of this scale been done in the US or Europe? Do we even have the technology?

mmsc 1y ago
Yes, it has been common enough, no "robots" required. The Indiana Bell Building is a famous one from a century ago, which gets videos posted about it on social media ever so often.
janfoeh 1y ago
Here is the Kaisersaal in Berlin being moved on air cushions in 1996 [1]. And wasn't a better part of Chicago jacked up building by building some time in the 19th century to make room for a sewage system? [1] https://www.bz-berlin.de/archiv-artikel/hier-schwebt-ein-denkmal-auf-luftkissen https://www.bz-berlin.de/archiv-artikel/hier-schwebt-ein-den...
- quakeguy 1y ago
  The Sonic Youth Gig there was awesome ;)
crooked-v 1y ago
Check out the raising of Chicago (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_of_Chicago https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_of_Chicago). From buildings up to entire city blocks were raised, moved on rollers, or both, usually while businesses and residents stayed in them for normal day-to-day life.
- wenc 1y ago
  Chicago also reversed the flow of the Chicago River. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_River#Reversing_the_flow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_River#Reversing_the_fl... They also rebuilt much of the city because it was wiped out during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, and now the grid system is one of the most commonsensical ones in any major American city. Chicago is an example of a (more or less) clean-slate engineered large city -- one that arose as a result of tragedy (fire) and failure (cholera).
- userbinator 1y ago
  In five days the entire assembly was elevated 4 feet 8 inches At a constant rate that's approximately 1.3 tenths (3.3um) per second, definitely far below the threshold for people noticing.
piptastic 1y ago
not quite the same scale area wise, but interesting nonetheless https://www.archdaily.com/973183/the-building-that-moved-how-did-they-move-an-11000-ton-telephone-exchange-without-suspending-its-operations https://www.archdaily.com/973183/the-building-that-moved-how... As for your actual question, I'm pretty sure we (US, Europe, humans in general) could do quite a bit more than we do now if we had a reason to do so. (or were 100% sure about the results)
dcrazy 1y ago
In 1930 they moved an entire telephone exchange in Indianapolis without even taking it offline: https://indianahistory.org/blog/instead-of-moving-mountains-they-moved-a-building/ https://indianahistory.org/blog/instead-of-moving-mountains-... The technology in this video appears to be computer control of the many pistons underneath the raised block. I would estimate that could be done with roughly 1970s-level of technology.
- pxc 1y ago
  So the impressive thing is really the social coordination, the project management, which was doubtless challenging but is hardly unique. It's still kind of a wonderful, imo. And it's awesome to be able to see it on video like this.
mayneack 1y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Simbel#Relocation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Simbel#Relocation In the 60s a massive stone monument was moved 200m up in elevation to avoid being flooded by a dam.
foxglacier 1y ago
Not the same scale but the 4-story concrete building The Museum Hotel in New Zealand was moved on rails in the 1990's https://www.rejigit.co.nz/database/redactor_images/large/68982f2ff82e2c1ce1415cf50fe1bf9d.jpg https://www.rejigit.co.nz/database/redactor_images/large/689... Maybe the scale of these other moves were limited by not having the adaptable height jacks to keep everything straight.
slyall 1y ago
Moving single buildings is pretty common https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structure_relocation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structure_relocation
funkaster 1y ago
lower tech/scale but in Chile (in the island of Chiloe) they have been doing this for centuries for individual houses: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/moving-houses-of-chiloe https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/moving-houses-of-chilo... - although no smart jacks, only bulls and people.
dluan 1y ago
Something similar but different was back in the early 1900s, several city blocks in Seattle were moved or relocated when large chunks of the city were blasted away with water to flatten it. Although most old buildings were simply demolished. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regrading_in_Seattle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regrading_in_Seattle
seabass 1y ago
The town of Kiruna in Sweden is currently being relocated because it is sinking into the iron mine that originally led to the founding of the town. Some buildings are being relocated on tracks in a similar way to that Shanghai video. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/05/why-a-swedish-town-is-on-the-move-one-building-at-a-time-kirkuna-arctic-circle https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/05/why-a-swedish-...
gbil 1y ago
Back in 1991 a church built in the 1500s was moved on rails at Kifissia, Greece. Sure, not the same scale but taking into consideration the time it was built, it was a great achievement Sorry, could only find reference in Greek language but the pictures and diagrams are universal :) plus translation options are always available https://www.mixanitouxronou.gr/to-ekklisaki-pou-xethemeliothike-ke-metaferthike-pano-se-rages-giati-empodize-tin-kikloforia-stin-kifisias-i-metakomisi-ton-ag-saranta-itan-ena-technologiko-epitevgma-pou-egine-proti-fora-stin/ https://www.mixanitouxronou.gr/to-ekklisaki-pou-xethemelioth...
orbital-decay 1y ago
Structure relocation is 19th century tech, still as fascinating as back then. This was done all over the world, on a much bigger scale than a single block. In some US cities in particular, and in Moscow they moved entire streets like that, with people inside. It's just expensive and there's no reason to do that unless the city is being actively developed, which Shanghai still is, and older structures are in the way.
- hombre_fatal 1y ago
  I think the real question is whether we can do it today. e.g. When NYC expanded its subway system for the first time in 50 years in 2017, it cost $2.5 billion per mile. 8-12x more expensive than similar projects in foreign cities. There might be too much regulation and too much cost and too many meetings and too many contractors and too much political conflict to do many of the feats we did in the 19th and 20th century.
timmb 1y ago
In Romania in the 80s, a number of churches were moved to make space for new building projects. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/dec/14/bucharest-moved-churches-safety-communist-romania https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/dec/14/bucharest-mov...

mmsc 1y ago

Yes, it has been common enough, no "robots" required. The Indiana Bell Building is a famous one from a century ago, which gets videos posted about it on social media ever so often.

janfoeh 1y ago

Here is the Kaisersaal in Berlin being moved on air cushions in 1996 [1]. And wasn't a better part of Chicago jacked up building by building some time in the 19th century to make room for a sewage system? [1] https://www.bz-berlin.de/archiv-artikel/hier-schwebt-ein-denkmal-auf-luftkissen https://www.bz-berlin.de/archiv-artikel/hier-schwebt-ein-den...

quakeguy 1y ago
The Sonic Youth Gig there was awesome ;)

crooked-v 1y ago

Check out the raising of Chicago (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_of_Chicago https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_of_Chicago). From buildings up to entire city blocks were raised, moved on rollers, or both, usually while businesses and residents stayed in them for normal day-to-day life.

wenc 1y ago
Chicago also reversed the flow of the Chicago River. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_River#Reversing_the_flow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_River#Reversing_the_fl... They also rebuilt much of the city because it was wiped out during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, and now the grid system is one of the most commonsensical ones in any major American city. Chicago is an example of a (more or less) clean-slate engineered large city -- one that arose as a result of tragedy (fire) and failure (cholera).
userbinator 1y ago
In five days the entire assembly was elevated 4 feet 8 inches At a constant rate that's approximately 1.3 tenths (3.3um) per second, definitely far below the threshold for people noticing.

piptastic 1y ago

not quite the same scale area wise, but interesting nonetheless https://www.archdaily.com/973183/the-building-that-moved-how-did-they-move-an-11000-ton-telephone-exchange-without-suspending-its-operations https://www.archdaily.com/973183/the-building-that-moved-how... As for your actual question, I'm pretty sure we (US, Europe, humans in general) could do quite a bit more than we do now if we had a reason to do so. (or were 100% sure about the results)

dcrazy 1y ago

In 1930 they moved an entire telephone exchange in Indianapolis without even taking it offline: https://indianahistory.org/blog/instead-of-moving-mountains-they-moved-a-building/ https://indianahistory.org/blog/instead-of-moving-mountains-... The technology in this video appears to be computer control of the many pistons underneath the raised block. I would estimate that could be done with roughly 1970s-level of technology.

pxc 1y ago
So the impressive thing is really the social coordination, the project management, which was doubtless challenging but is hardly unique. It's still kind of a wonderful, imo. And it's awesome to be able to see it on video like this.

mayneack 1y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Simbel#Relocation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Simbel#Relocation In the 60s a massive stone monument was moved 200m up in elevation to avoid being flooded by a dam.

foxglacier 1y ago

Not the same scale but the 4-story concrete building The Museum Hotel in New Zealand was moved on rails in the 1990's https://www.rejigit.co.nz/database/redactor_images/large/68982f2ff82e2c1ce1415cf50fe1bf9d.jpg https://www.rejigit.co.nz/database/redactor_images/large/689... Maybe the scale of these other moves were limited by not having the adaptable height jacks to keep everything straight.

slyall 1y ago

Moving single buildings is pretty common https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structure_relocation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structure_relocation

funkaster 1y ago

lower tech/scale but in Chile (in the island of Chiloe) they have been doing this for centuries for individual houses: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/moving-houses-of-chiloe https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/moving-houses-of-chilo... - although no smart jacks, only bulls and people.

dluan 1y ago

Something similar but different was back in the early 1900s, several city blocks in Seattle were moved or relocated when large chunks of the city were blasted away with water to flatten it. Although most old buildings were simply demolished. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regrading_in_Seattle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regrading_in_Seattle

seabass 1y ago

The town of Kiruna in Sweden is currently being relocated because it is sinking into the iron mine that originally led to the founding of the town. Some buildings are being relocated on tracks in a similar way to that Shanghai video. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/05/why-a-swedish-town-is-on-the-move-one-building-at-a-time-kirkuna-arctic-circle https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/05/why-a-swedish-...

gbil 1y ago

Back in 1991 a church built in the 1500s was moved on rails at Kifissia, Greece. Sure, not the same scale but taking into consideration the time it was built, it was a great achievement Sorry, could only find reference in Greek language but the pictures and diagrams are universal :) plus translation options are always available https://www.mixanitouxronou.gr/to-ekklisaki-pou-xethemeliothike-ke-metaferthike-pano-se-rages-giati-empodize-tin-kikloforia-stin-kifisias-i-metakomisi-ton-ag-saranta-itan-ena-technologiko-epitevgma-pou-egine-proti-fora-stin/ https://www.mixanitouxronou.gr/to-ekklisaki-pou-xethemelioth...

orbital-decay 1y ago

Structure relocation is 19th century tech, still as fascinating as back then. This was done all over the world, on a much bigger scale than a single block. In some US cities in particular, and in Moscow they moved entire streets like that, with people inside. It's just expensive and there's no reason to do that unless the city is being actively developed, which Shanghai still is, and older structures are in the way.

hombre_fatal 1y ago
I think the real question is whether we can do it today. e.g. When NYC expanded its subway system for the first time in 50 years in 2017, it cost $2.5 billion per mile. 8-12x more expensive than similar projects in foreign cities. There might be too much regulation and too much cost and too many meetings and too many contractors and too much political conflict to do many of the feats we did in the 19th and 20th century.

timmb 1y ago

In Romania in the 80s, a number of churches were moved to make space for new building projects. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/dec/14/bucharest-moved-churches-safety-communist-romania https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/dec/14/bucharest-mov...