So the real story of this robot building (or building robot?) is that engineers installed nearly 200 mechanical “legs” underneath the building. This was part of an 18-day project to relocate the 16-million-pound building 202 feet to a new site, so that it wouldn’t have to be torn down to make way for a redevelopment project.
The five-story historic building was originally built in 1935, and because of its “sensitivity,” none of the traditional methods for moving buildings (slide rail or flatbed relocation) were a fit. During its “walk,” the building also rotated to fit better on its new site.
Now that the building has arrived at its new location, it’ll undergo a huge renovation to “inject new vitality into the building,” according to China’s CCTV Video News Agency. Here’s more video of the building on the stroll.