The vicissitudes and joys of the Normandy apartment
Architect Laszlo Edward Hudec left more than a hundred individual buildings in Shanghai, among which the structure of the Normandy apartment and its metaphor as a "ship" all imply that a nation is sailing difficult amidst turmoil. After 1953, the Normandy Apartment was renamed Wukang Building.
In 1937, the Anti-Japanese War broke out in an all-round way. Zhou Ding and Cao Nanqiao in the Normandy apartment devoted themselves to the struggle of the Anti-Japanese War without hesitation. Gao Yuan's new novel "The Normandy Apartment" uses architecture as a carrier and uses a new spatial narrative to show the war and peace, pain and glory, glory and dreams that belong to old Shanghai.
This article is the author's postscript.
Poster for "Normandy Apartment" book launch
I always believe that the story that happened in this building must be more exciting than the building itself. Thus, there was the novel "The Normandy Apartment".
Under the building
Things in this world are made up of countless accidents, but some accidents are actually inevitable. Without that ultra-close observation, I might have written the novel "The Normandy Apartment", just waiting for another chance.
It was two years ago, an early autumn weekend afternoon. I drove along Huaihai Middle Road from east to west to the famous six-way intersection. The green light turned yellow. I didn't hesitate and stepped on the brake.
Later, I thought about it, that yellow light might have been deliberately set for me, or to test me. If I stepped on the accelerator and passed, the story would have been a different narrative.
Author Gao Yuan
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I lowered the window and turned my neck from left to right. At the intersections of Yuqing Road, Tianping Road, Huaihai Middle Road, Xingguo Road, and Wukang Road, there were still people who kept jumping into the scorching road like moths to a flame. The moment the green light turned, everyone instantly lowered the tide, and the roadway was empty.
This is a bit magical scene. But in recent years, Shanghai people have gradually become accustomed to such attention.
