Imagine moving your house to the other side of the street because you want more sunlight—but instead of calling a moving truck, you slide the whole building, brick by brick, with surgical precision over nearly 300 meters. No demolition, no cranes, and as little noise as a library at midnight. That’s not science fiction: In Xiamen, China, this is exactly what engineers pulled off, and the Guinness Book had to invent a new superlative just to keep up.
How Do You Relocate 30,000 Tons Without Breaking a Sweat?
In 2019, faced with the need to clear land for a new high-speed railway, builders in Xiamen (Fujian province) found themselves staring at a shiny, enormous obstacle: the recently built Houxi Long Distance Bus Station. We’re talking about a behemoth weighing 30,000 tons—let’s just say too bulky for any normal moving day solutions.
Wrecking balls weren’t on the menu. Why destroy a fully functional, expensive station when another way was possible? Instead, the mission: rotate and shift the station intact onto a new resting place a short distance away. Simple in concept—heroically complex in execution.
High-Tech Gliding: Not Just for Ice Skaters
The secret sauce? An innovative process dubbed “assisted structured translation.” Picture this:
- 532 alternating hydraulic jacks nestled under the building, working in a sophisticated ballet
- Motorized rails gently guiding the building’s every move
- Computerized controls synchronizing micro-lifts and micro-advancements, so there were no unwanted twists, bends, or hairline cracks
- Careful distribution of the building’s enormous weight, keeping both structure and foundations perfectly balanced
This engineering masterclass lasted forty days, with the building gliding about twenty meters per day. First, it was pivoted (because what’s a move without a little twirl?), then slid 288 meters to land precisely on its new foundation—losing not a single tile along the way. Guinness wasn’t just impressed—they officially affirmed the operation set the world record for “the heaviest building moved on rollers.”
Why Go Through the Trouble? Follow the Money—And the Noise
If you’re blown away by the engineering, wait until you see the ledger. Dismantling and rebuilding would have drained both the wallet and the neighborhood’s patience. The building, which cost about 36 million euros to construct in 2015, would have cost even more to demolish and recreate. Instead, the move clocked in at roughly 7 million euros and preserved the infrastructure—not to mention sparing everyone mountains of construction waste.
But it’s not all about coins and bricks—quality of life counted, too. This innovative method avoided a months-long noisy dust-fest, kept city traffic humming, and reduced the operational standstill for the station and nearby residents. Local officials eagerly highlighted the positive outcome on time, budget, and environmental impact, while engineering schools are now dissecting every technical detail for future inspiration.
- Conservation of existing infrastructure
- Substantial waste reduction
- Minimized urban disruption
- Real-life case study for engineer-training worldwide
Translation in the Urban Jungle: Lessons, Limits, Legacy
This “walk” of the building has quickly become required reading among engineers. The operation revealed the necessity of:
- Meticulous load phasing
- Robust, rigid structure and customized foundations
- Live, real-time adjustments during each step
Of course, this isn’t a plug-and-play solution for every city block. Challenges such as terrain, underground pipelines, neighborhood density, and building geometry all set practical limits. Every job demands careful study and the agility to adjust loads on the fly. Yet for dense metropolises, where time, environmental concerns, and service continuity matter as much as the bottom line, moving a building—rather than razing and rebuilding—can offer unbeatable advantages. Less rubble, less transport, more preserved value.
At the end of the day, the real achievement isn’t just a world record or viral timelapse videos that make a giant bus station look almost alive. It’s proof that when the stakes are high and the constraints tight, innovation can come from taking the careful road—balancing risk, engineering, and a dash of boldness. The Guinness Book will remember the feat. The world’s engineers? They’ll remember the method, ready to apply it with discernment the next time a city says, “We need to move that…whole…thing.”
John is a curious mind who loves to write about diverse topics. Passionate about sharing his thoughts and perspectives, he enjoys sparking conversations and encouraging discovery. For him, every subject is an invitation to discuss and learn.
