上海老场坊

We had to visit '1933 Shanghai' (上海老场坊), a former slaughterhouse that hosts an interesting architecture in concrete art decor. Its almost Escher-ish interlocking ramps, bridges and winding staircases that seem to lead to nowhere and everywhere circle a central atrium. It's almost scary to think of animals being herded on these narrow ramps down to the basement to be killed. ARRRGH. Not unlike Les Halles in Paris (built way earlier) and similar Chicago Meatpacking District in the 1800s and New York City's Meatpacking district in the 1900s.

The slaughterhouse has been refurbished as a creative hub, and ironically, restaurants. It's not fully occupied yet, and the shops present are sparse and few. On the day we went, of course everything was closed, which was perfect. It heightened the spooky atmosphere. Concrete resulted in a very cold basement and central atrium. Heating doesn't exist since it's more or less 'open-air', unless you go into the shops which sell overpriced leather goods and odd wedding packages, bridal dresses and whatnots. (More photos from here, here and here.)

Not many visitors were present during our visit. It almost felt eerie. We had just finished Season 1 of 'An American Horror Story' that had an absolutely brilliant finale. Can't wait for Season 2! We had chose to watch deep in the night till the wee hours, so the images remained fresh in our nightmares. We made silly jokes about cold basements, drafty attics and echoes. When we were done on the ground floor, we wandered upstairs. There's an event space on the top floor that has a glass floor. That was extremely unsettling. I'm not good with heights and the glass completely threw me off. While some gingerly stepped onto it, grinning, "Hey, it's just mind over matter!", a couple of us refused to walk across it, not when we could hear the glass creak with every move.

The rooftop is open to public access. There's a coffeeshop there which serves decent Lavazza brew (I think) if you want to sit and enjoy the view. We were scheduled for a caffeine intake after this, so didn't sit down and simply walked around the space. Stayed for a while to enjoy the sun and the winter chill. Forgot the exact temperature, but the sunshine made it feel warmer than it actually was. It was a nice bright day which resulted in a heightened visibility from its usual dreary fog and grey, or rain and mist. Refreshing.

The rooftop was open for visitors to stroll through 360 degrees. Even from this angle from a height of about 5 storeys, our view isn't completely blocked by tall buildings. We could see the panorama of this part of the city in Hongkou (虹口). Shanghai is a juxtaposition of old and new, and this is clearly seen in the buildings, architecture and even lifestyle that have sprouted around the slaughterhouse.