Surrounded by a residential complex, as well as the city's busiest expressway, the 74-year-old Shanghai Concert Hall has been plagued with noise and exhaust fumes for years. Although building a new concert hall would have been less expensive, the city chose to move the entire building to preserve its distinctive architecture. Constructed in the early 1900's and formerly known as the Nanking Theater, the hall is renowned for its excellent acoustics, and has been the setting for many orchestral performances since 1959.
Moving the decades-old building took place in three phases, the first of which involved lifting the entire structure 5.5 feet from its original foundations. After that, it was moved 216 feet to the southeast. The third and final phase involved lifting the hall another 5.4 feet and then lowering and positioning it onto a new base.