This article is from WeChat official account:create (ID: xingshu100), author: Chaichao Chen, head Figure from: vision China
Wukang Building is undoubtedly one of Shanghai’s most prestigious “net celebrity buildings”.
During the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival this year, at the intersection of Wukang Road and Huaihai Middle Road at the foot of the Wukang Building, the average daily passenger flow has reached 20,000. Even if it is not a long holiday, there is an endless stream of people checking in and taking pictures around the Wukang Building every weekend.
These people who come here can be roughly divided into three categories:
First, I went to the net celebrity shop on the ground floor of the Wukang Building. Line up for an hour, just to take a photo with the building with the latest ice cream of the season;
Second, I rushed to the Internet celebrity street-Wukang Road. On the way from Huaihai Middle Road to Wukang Road, I quickly took out my mobile phone, quickly compose the picture, and visited here.
The third is to set up a posture to shoot Wukang Building. The classic diagonal position, the tripod and the long guns and short guns, just ask for the most “upright” photo of the Wukang Building to be included in my photography collection.
A bird’s-eye view of Wukang Building: ①The check-in area of the internet celebrity shop; ②The crazy click area of the mobile phone; “class=”text-img-note”>
People crowded the streets on all sides, shooting the Wukang Building back and forth.
What makes me “confused” is that Wukang Building has obviously become “ugly”, why are more and more people taking pictures and checking in?
The grand occasion of area ② (Source: Weibo @Liberation Daily)
Of course, beauty and ugliness are all subjective, but for me, the “taste” of Wukang Building has indeed changed.
The Wukang Building underwent an overall renovation in 2019. After the repair, it has been exposed by the media on a large scale, attracting a large number of tourists, and the time-card diaries on social media have made it a must-see attraction.
However, among the praises of tourists, there are photographers who feel like me-“The restored building seems to be missing something…“
What’s missing? Perhaps the most intuitive is the overhead wires that were once called the “sky spider web” around the building.
Wukang Building, 2018
If you go to the Wukang Building before 2019, you will see it like this–
The wires between the “Five-Forked Roads” are intertwined and entangled with each other. They randomly cut the Wukang Building into irregular pieces; they allow anyone to shoot at Wukang University.There is an element of “disharmony” in the photos of the building. And it is this element, like a filter, that gives the Wukang Building a different temperament.
1925 Wukang Building: “Unorganized” electric wires are the ones that were “born”
In fact, the wire elements are also inherent in the Wukang Building, and they appear in every old photo of the Wukang Building.
Such electric wires can be seen everywhere in Shanghai in the past. They shuttle among the leaves of phoenix trees, walk the streets and alleys, go back and forth between the buildings, weaving the net in circles-In a sense, they have also become a kind of symbolic symbol of the old streets of this city.
These wires used to be a symbol of the development of a city—they became more and more complicated as the city developed. But now, they have become historical relics that need to be banned in the city.
Shanghai Li Lane hooked up by wires
For the Wukang Building, these wires may have been part of its “age of age”.
“They are memories of the old life here”, “They remind people of the way the tram drove from here”, some people even say that they are like staff, and the electrical devices on them are like beating Notes…
Wukang Building in 2018: Musical notes hang on wires
It’s a pity that “staff” or “music note” has disappeared with the city’s overhaul of overhead lines and poles that began in 2018.
The modification of these wires is naturally unavoidable. Because it is not only for aesthetics, but also for guaranteeing the reliability of urban power grids, considering that these exposed wires are easily damaged by environmental factors such as weather. They are buried safely underground.
However, their disappearance also means that the “old days” of the Wukang Building and the electric wires have disappeared.
The background of the Wukang Building has become pure, but it itself has become lonely——For those who are used to the old look of the Wukang Building, it looks like it stands alone at the intersection now, it may be somewhat lonely.
Wukang Building in Baidu Map Time Machine: 2013->2017->2019
In addition to the “sense of age”, its “market gas” is slowly dissipating.
Two years ago, if you were standing on Huaihai Middle Road, just from the exterior, you would know that Wukang Building is a “real” residential building—all kinds of awnings with scattered expenses on the facade are buildings. Residents here do not want to linger in the space in the building and spontaneously build installations.
The style of the awning and the decoration of the balcony depend on the owner’s preferences, and you can evenFrom these exposed edges and corners, I can see the lives of some of the residents.
2018 Wukang Building, Huaihai Middle Road side: visible awnings and semi-transparent air-conditioning outer cases
Now, 68 awnings and 45 drying racks have disappeared, replaced by all new air-conditioning outer cases.
These new outer cases are neat and uniform. They obviously use lighter materials, but pack each air conditioner more “tightly”. Compared with the original semi-transparent case, it looks stiff and heavy.
In order not to violate the harmony, they also adopted the same color as the wall. Regardless of the color or material, it is more “fresh” than the wall behind it, like a patch on the facade, some unexpected.
A neat and uniform air conditioning bracket box on the facade
Although this kind of renovation is based on the safety of use and the actual needs of the residents, the residents’ lives have completely retreated behind the windows and disappeared from the facade.
The building is neatly organized like a big box, and the fireworks are “closed” into the box.
The neat façade does not see life
Looking at the appearance of the Wukang Building now, the breath of “living” has been erased little by little, while on the contrary, the value of business is gradually being magnified.
The business format on the ground floor of the Wukang Building has been constantly changing in the past two years. In the arcade’s colonnade, many new shops have been born with “net celebrity” attributes-ice cream shops, music book shops, Art space…
These Internet celebrity stores are closely connected with the media, especially social media. They not only won more traffic for the commercial space on the ground floor of the building, but also attracted people to walk nearby to take pictures, check in and take photos together.
The carefully visually designed internet celebrity shops on the ground floor of Wukang Building
Under the stimulus and proliferation of social media, those who have already “checked in” willingly follow the trend to become “tap water”; while those who have not yet “checked in” want to squeeze into the public and get a The photos have the same angle, the same light and shadow, and even the same holding desserts.
Under this fast-paced dissemination, although the historical charm and spatial experience of the old building itself are being ignored, it does not affect its step towards becoming an Internet celebrity. Under the “indiscriminate bombardment” of the circle of friends, comments, notes, etc., the Wukang Building finally transformed and became the top-level building on the Magic City check-in list.
Fancy clocking in Wukang Building
In fact, the transformation of old buildings into Internet celebrities is nothing new. There are too many cases in Shanghai alone.
Like last year, “Blackstone Apartment“, which was almost the same age as the Wukang Building, has also been remodeled-it is on Fuxing Middle Road, facing the new Shanghai Symphony Orchestra of Isozaki. The appearance is low-key, and even the color tone is a little “gray”, but now it has undergone some spatial transformation, embedded with “bright” bookstores, galleries, hotels, etc., and it has attracted a large number of people to take pictures.
Blackstone apartment before renovation
The current beautiful Blackstone Apartment
There is also the live Internet celebrity building in 2018-Shangsheng·Xinsuo.
This park, which is transformed from historic buildings such as the Columbia Country Club, Sunke Villa, and Navy Club, has not only reproduced various retro styles such as fountains and swimming pools, but also adopted a large area of mirrors and other popular Internet The welcome contemporary design creates a scene for people who come to take pictures.
Shangsheng·New Office: A photo spot with a mix of retro style and modern design
Or earlier ones, such as the 1933 Old Farmhouse which was modified from the slaughterhouse of the former Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Industry.
In addition to being a well-known creative park, it is also a place for tourists to check in. The narrow, winding, and staggered staircases have long been its famous visual symbols.
1933 Laochangfang: The complex staircase corridor system is an excellent punch-in background
In addition to Internet celebrity buildings, there are also Internet celebrity blocks-Wukang Road, Yuyuan Road, Anfu Road… In these streets, not only the old buildings that have been renovated, but also more Designers carefully created “photo frames”.
When these buildings and blocks become “net celebrity attractions,” not only citizens will arrive, but also Internet users who need to keep self-documenting their lives. And they are commenting and evaluatingWhen these old buildings, I couldn’t help adding labels like this-“good-looking photos”, “easy to film”, “good light and shadow”……
The building changed from the space used to the stage where they took pictures; the experience of the space was also transformed into their visual consumption.
In order to cater to this kind of consumption, designers are also creating matching and even similar online celebrity designs from top to bottom with the support of capital and the encouragement of social media.
Internet celebrity shops with similar spatial configuration
Actually, Internet celebrity itself is a topic that has nothing to do with right or wrong-it is a manifestation of social and economic development, and it is everyone’s desire to be seen.
People have more expectations of buildings than they use. The influence of buildings or blocks on the Internet is, in a sense, hope that people can find neighborhoods or corners that were not originally paid attention to.
However, when these traffic caused more people to pay attention to the old buildings and walk into the old buildings, its Internet celebrity communication method also made people more immersed in commodity consumption and visual enjoyment. On the contrary, it indifferent to the history, human feelings and life in the architecture, so that these more precious architectural values gradually lose focus.
The Wukang Building has a lively life that Internet celebrities don’t know (Source: “Living in Wukang Building”)
And architecture is a building of people, and a city is a city of people.
To love a building or change a building only for the needs of social media may only be an overnight carnival, and after this carnival, these buildings should return to life.
Just as Wu Jiang, the executive vice president of Tongji University, said, “The city is not the stage background, but the life scene.”
These old buildings need to be reborn and need to be connected from the past to the present-if they are only used as a refined photo backdrop, then they still cannot have a long-lasting connection with the people or the city; only when they become the life of today For one thing, the history and culture of the city are truly activated.
The dazzling internet celebrity itself, as the popular culture of the Internet age, may need to slowly settle and re-grow in time like these old buildings.
Reference:
https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2020-10-09/doc-iivhuipp8579444.shtml
https://www.archdaily.cn/cn/942552/wang-hong-jian-zhu-jiang-wo-men-dai-xiang-he-fang
https://www.sohu.com/a/226336233_120769
http://www.xuhui.gov.cn/xwzx_bmlf/20200713/269606.html
This article is from WeChat official account: create (ID: xingshu100) , Author: Chaizhao Chen