Shanghai’s Slaughterhouse circa 1933

I was spellbound by this interesting structure. It jogged my memory of the days I spent working on Safdie’s Montreal Habitat 67: raw concrete and suspended pedestrian bridges flying between levels. It is a complex plan that perhaps segregate specific cattle to various levels for slaughter, while the circular open-air atria no doubt ventilate the complex naturally. The concrete image is a strong reminder of the Brutalist period. Interesting to note that 1933 was the year when the Bauhaus School in Berlin was permanently closed by the Nazi government. The modern movement was starting to incubate world attention during these years. The architecture world were perhaps going through dramatic theoretical changes.