Construction workers in Shanghai moved a building in a way never seen before: they walked it down the block. (Watch the video. It’s incredible.)
The building, a primary school built in 1935, was in the way of the development of a commercial center. Traditional methods of moving a building wouldn’t work because of the school’s shape.
Workers raised the building on two hundred small, slidable pistoned platforms, attaching each to the building’s bottom. These were synced up to move the building down the street over eighteen days.
An interesting story could be about the building itself–a cross between The Giving Tree and One Hundred Years of Solitude. It would cover the entire lifetime of the building, starting with the first students and culminating with the near-future students, using technology the building deems as futuristic novelties.
The movement of the school down the street could be the crisis towards the end of the novel. The person who comes up with the idea is a former student. They watched the building–which has a life of its own–save a trespassing squirrel by performing the same step-wise action with the floor tiles, depositing the animal outside.
The story doesn’t have to take place in China. It could take place in any country, showing the unique history of different locales. The key would be including the vast history between 1935 to present-day, showing the changing culture through the building’s eyes and the students’ changing demographics.
This particular story could have a sequel set in the far future with hovercrafts and advanced wearable tech. A more reasonable way to turn this concept into a series could be this type of story with other ignored buildings. For example, the story of a factory in a midwestern town or a post office in California during the Gold Rush could be worth telling. Each story would provide the opportunity to witness history through a more local lens.
