There’s that very old and overused expression that keeps coming up in my mind;
If these walls could talk…
I can’t help it. I really didn’t want to open with that, I tried to think of something else. But nothing else fits quite so well.
We have gutted the apartment and what is revealed are layers of history visible by the changes in shape, colour, structure, material.
It had been told through urban tale that this apartment was once in fact two smaller apartments. Now as we strip it down to its bones, we start to see how those apartments might have looked.
The first and most obvious tell-tale is the door-shaped patch of big blue masonry blocks sitting neatly in the otherwise red brick wall. So the door to the bathroom used to be there. The same blue patch appears on the other side of the bathroom, indicating another door into the same space. From this and the placement of the pipes we know that the current bathroom was once split into two tiny bathrooms, one for each tiny apartment. They backed onto each other, more than likely they were symmetric.
Next we demolished the wall between the master bedroom and the study, where there was what seemed like a structural column. We weren’t even sure we could demolish it. But it’s not structural at all. It’s brick built around an iron pipe. Water drainage. This used to be the other kitchen. And the pipe cannot be removed as the apartment below still uses it. Luckily we will be able to hide it again in the latest iteration.
As we removed the timber flooring, we noticed several changes in the height of the concrete slab. It is high at the kitchen and entry areas, then it drops about 10cm in the living room and master bedroom. Wet areas like kitchens and bathrooms do tend to be higher levels to accommodate piping, but at the southern end closer to the balcony the slab raises again by 8cm. Then on the balcony itself its another 3cm higher still. How peculiar.
Our explanation is provided by the builders, who have much experience in renovating old Shanghai buildings. That extra height in front of the balcony was a later addition in order to hold the weight of the balcony. In other words, the original building had no balconies.
The original two apartments would have looked something like this:
It’s so hard to imagine how families could have lived in these small apartments. Although I suppose a quick trip to Hong Kong and you would get the idea. But it’s certainly fascinating to see how much the floor layout influences how we live. Below are the plans of Mr Lin’s previous apartment, and future apartment. Interestingly, the bathroom will go back to almost its original size. It will, however, be supplemented by a second bathroom in the new loft level, with a bath tub!!
The rest of us continue to dream.
