Translocation of Three Historical Buildings in Renovation of the Porcelain Tower of Nanjing

Abstract

In order to adapt to a new site planning of the Porcelain Tower of Nanjing, China, two two-story and one three-story historical masonry building built in the 1930s were translocated. Because of the limited ground space, the three buildings were divided into eight parts and reconnected after translocation. The moving routes had multiple broken lines to avoid influencing surrounding old trees, and the maximum translocation distance was 184 m. Some building units were rotated by 7 degrees or lowered by 4.2 m, in accordance with the new site planning. Procedure and technical details of the translocation, including the structural strengthening, load underpinning, structural separation, ground treatment and reconnection, etc., are introduced in this paper. One building was pulled by a traditional hydraulic-jack system with high-strength steel strands; the other two buildings were moved by using a novel translocation device, which is capable of self-walking and turning 360 degrees, in order to change the translocation direction more efficiently. Through the vertical hydraulic jack in this new translocation device, the undesirable difference in column settlements can be automatically compensated, which loosens the requirement on the rail stiffness.