The original plan to rebuild an abandoned water tower on Chongming Island in northern Shanghai was to transform it into a café, commissioned to local company Wutopia Laboratories. But before the project began, designer and Wutopia founder Min Erni fell ill, and when Min Erni recovered from her illness, she suddenly decided that it was more memorable to transform the water tower into a café than to transform the water tower.
The customer's logo was etched onto the floor at the bottom of the building.
Chongming Island once had a state-owned farm, a government-run agricultural project that began in the 1970s to ensure the food supply needed by Shanghai's growing population, and countless young people with lofty ideals came here in response to the call to fight in that difficult time. The forgotten farm workers reminded him of the doctors and nurses who cared for his wife while she was ill. Yu believes that building a café here will make history disappear. "Flashy consumption space is just a mask," he said. "They obscure the memories and struggles of ordinary people." So they made the design, which, in her words, was "a memorial to all ordinary people who acted heroically in times of crisis." Thus, the memorial of ordinary people was born.
A new custom staircase is gold plated stainless steel. The stair poles are electroplated steel.
The 67-foot-tall brick tower has been idle for 30 years, and it was first reinforced to ensure the building's stability. A new self-supporting steel structure is then built inside. In total, there are 84 electroplated rods supporting 100 floating steps, each representing a year, and the entire staircase symbolizes a century of progress. At the top is Yu Minhong's favorite part: the observation deck. A large piece of glass shell is hoisted by a crane and gently placed on top of the tower, which used to be a cistern that provided drinking water for farm workers. A halo comes from a soft LIGHT-emitting diode whose wires are hidden in a thin tube of mirrored stainless steel. From here, visitors can now see large tracts of farmland where citizens once toiled.
The observation deck overlooks the mouth of the Yangtze River. Photography is provided by the creator.
Each step represents a year, a century of progress.
The CAD rendering shows how the self-supporting staircase was built inside the original brick structure.
Above the observation deck of the Everyman Memorial, there is a new glass enclosure. Built in 1960, the water tower was once part of a government-run agricultural project.
The 67-foot-tall building, once abandoned, now complements a neighboring convention center.
An LED light surrounds the glass enclosure of the observation deck.