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4.1
Introduction
1933 old Millfun, an abattoir built in the year of 1933, was originally intended for slaughter. After being abandoned and falling into disuse, the buildings were served a number of purposes over the years from medicine factory, storage facility, and later listed as the Excellent Historical Building in Shanghai. There were the restoration and renovation from 2006 to 2008. The abattoir was reused as spaces for creative industry, such as conference, exhibition, banquet and office. This successful transformation shows how the protected industrial heritage can be renovated and rehabilitated with the new uses.
Figure 4-1 The location of 1933 Old Millfun in Shanghai (Source：Google Earth )
Figure 4-2 The site of 1933 Old Millfun (Source：Google Earth) Huangpu River
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4.2
Research Method
This research takes 1933 Old Millfun as a case study, including the historical research on the realization of architecture and the reuse methodology research on the renovation project. The aim of historical research is to reveal the original designs and construction process of Shanghai Municipal abattior, such as the original function, original architectural space, original material and original technology. It is based on a large number of documents, especially the architectural archives from Shanghai Municipal Archives, including information of location, design process and construction method. With the documentary study, the research is mainly concerned with four fields, namely project management, site selection and technical inquiry, functions and circulations, architectural form and spatial composition, and structural characteristics. All these explain the significance of architecture, its particular sensitivities and characteristics in the managing and protecting. As a re-recognition process, the historical research also provide a knowledge basement to check the reuse in terms of the authenticity and identifiability.
The temperament of the original space and the function of the abattoir “as a machine”1 have been represented and illustrated by the architect. As the function was changed and many of the parts of the abattior were already damaged, the reuse project demolished the damaged parts and reinvigorate the abandoned buildings with new uses in term of creative industry. The reuse methodology research focuses on how to reuse the industrial building listed as architectural heritage. As a typical industrial heritage reuse project in China, the strategy and methodology used for 1933 old millfun are deserve to be read in details. The main research methods are included of reading the drawing of reuse, on-site investigation, interviewing the architects who design it and the users and visitors who use this architecture.
4.3
Literature Review
Regarding the historical data of 1933 old millfun, generally speaking, it is not abundant. As the original abattoir, it has not much recording value due to its particular function. However, benefited from the status of official architecture of the Shanghai Municipal Committee, this abattoir still has certain research basis. Its project approval, design, and construction were all developed under the management of the Municipal Committee, and some of its original data can be found in Shanghai Municipal Archives.
The abattoir was proposed to be constructed in 1921 and put into use in 1934; the time in between was 13 years. The early stage construction work was often interrupted by discussion process, so the data is scattered, which has no coherence. Among these scattered materials，there were three critical documents for the historical study. The first one is a description2 made for the project in 1930. It is the basis for understanding the
various details regarding the architecture and the technological process of abattoir. The
1 The architect of 1933 Old Millfun reuse project, ZHAO Chongxin, views the whole architecture as a reinforced concrete machine designed as per slaughtering technology. ZHAO Chongxin, “Reconstructing of 1933 Old Mill,” Architectural Creation, 2008, 50–56.
2 See more in the Appendix VII. Shanghai Municipal Archives, A description of the acceptable layout for the Shanghai Municipal Abattoir (Sawjin Road Abattoir ), archive NO.U1-14-2392, 1924-1935.
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second is general description of construction3 in English language made in 1931, which recorded the construction materials and technology requirements of the abattoir.4.HE
Wei and ZHU Xiaomin’s paper “An 80 year’s old construction report- interpretation on the archives of Shanghai Municipal Council Abattoir”5 present in detailed materials
and construction technology used in abattoir based on this collection of documents. The third one is the document of design scheme drawing finished in 19306.
In HE Wei and Prof.ZHU Xiaomin’s “A Research on the Architectural Archives of the Shanghai Municipal Council Abattoir”7, they read large amount of correspondents and
letters (in Chinese and English) in this discussion process, systemized and sorted it as per time sequence into consistent document, supporting it with relevant social and historical background data. This paper offers an exact historic context of the abattoir as an outstanding modern reinforced concrete industrial building in Shanghai. Before their research, most of introduction on this abattoir were narrow limited to few points: construction by the funding of The Municipal Committee, designed by British architect Balfours, and built by Ah Hong & Co. They proved that the designer of abattoir was architect A.Carr.Wheeler, who worked at construction section of Shanghai Municipal Council Public Works Department.
Regarding the reuse, as the architect of 1933 Old Millfun reuse project, ZHAO Chongxin published three articles, including “Reconstructing of 1933 Old Mill” 8 ,“Reconstructing of 1933 Old Mill” 9 ,and “Change, Platform and
Regeneration-reconstruction process of 1933 old building in diagramic representation”10 . They are the main literature on the introduction of the ideas of
renovation process and the reuse strategies for the old buildings with cultural and commercial values. CHEN Haipen is another architect in reuse project. In his “The restoration of 1933 old millfun”11, the principals and the methods used in the
restoration are discussed. Before the renovation in 2006, the inspection and assessment for the structure of abattior were carried out by the Shanghai Academy of Building Research in 2006. The main works are described in the “Inspection and Assessment of 1933 Old Millfun in Shanghai”12, including architectural and structural recheck,
material strength inspection , damaged degree investigation , settlement and deformation measurement , structural safety assessment , seismic appraisement , strengthen and restoration suggestion. Besides, NIE Bo’s paper “On Preservation and Rehabilitation Of Modern Concrete Industrial Buildings in Shanghai(1880-1940)-Case
3 Shanghai Municipal Archives, Interpretation for the Abattoir CAD.LOT.330 specification of labour and materials for the construction of the lairage and slaughter sections, archive NO.U1-14-2397, 1924-1935.
4 Shanghai Municipal Council Public Works Department would provide such kinds of description while conducting construction bid for its architectures with certain scale
5 HE Wei and ZHU Xiaoming, “An 80 Years Old Construction Report- Interpretation on the Archives of Shanghai Municipal Council Abattoir,” in Survey,Research and Conservation of Chinese Industrial Architecture Heritage, 2011, pp. 330–338. 6 The original document of design scheme drawing of Shanghai Municipal Abattoir is reserved in private and unpublished. 7 HE Wei and ZHU Xiaoming, “A Research on the Architectural Archives of the Shanghai Municipal Council Abattoir,” Time
Architecture, 2012, 108–113.
8 ZHAO Chongxin, “Reconstructing of 1933 Old Mill,” Architectural Creation, 2008, 50–56 9 ZHAO Chongxin, “1933 Old Mill,” Architectural Journal, 2008, 70–75.
10 ZHAO Chongxin, “Change, Platform and Regeneration-Reconstruction Process of 1933 Old Building in Diagramic Representation,” Industrial Construction, 38 (2008), 04–19.
11 CHEN Haipen, “The Restoration of 1933 Old Millfun,” URBAN CONSTRUCTION, 70 (2010), 299–300.
12 LIU Huabo, WANG Hongnan and ZHU Chunming, “Inspection and Assessment of 1933 Old Millfun in Shanghai,”
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Study on Rehabilitation of the Abattoirof S.M.C.P.W.D (1933 Old Millfun)”13, chooses the rehabilitation of 1933 Old Millfun as the case for study, observing the protection and regeneration tactic through various perspectives. He also discusses the renewal pattern, design details and the possible technology that can be used for industrial heritage.
Figure 4-3 Shanghai Municipal Abattoir in 1937（Source: Shanghai Municipal Archives.）
Figure 4-4 Shanghai Municipal Abattoir in 1937（Source: Shanghai Municipal Archives.）
13NIE Bo, “On Preservation and Rehabilitation Of Modern Concrete Industrial Buildings in Shanghai(1880-1940)-Case Study on Rehabilitation of the Abattoirof S.M.C.P.W.D (1933 Old Millfun)” (Tongji university, 2008), p. 300.
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Figure 4-5 The original plan of the Shanghai Municipal Abattoir (Source: http://forum.xitek.com/forum-viewthread-action-printable-tid-390839.html)
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