With MRTs being built all over Singapore, access to public transport has never been closer. Unless you live in Chongqing, China.
In one particular 19-storey residential apartment, the MRT stop is actually inside the building. This means that residents don’t even need to leave their buildings to hop on the train – they just need to get to the 6th to 8th floors to hitch a ride.
City planners are becoming more and more daring these days, building major transits and even highways very close to residential blocks.
Case in point, when Osaka needed space for a highway in the packed city, it actually built one through a building – the 16-storey Gate Tower Building.
The Hanshin Expressway passes between the 5th and 7th floors, and the lift serving the building simply bypasses those floors, so you go from 4th to 8th floor. Since it’s taking up space in the building, the highway is considered a tenant, so it actually pays rent.
How about that for some creative civil engineering, eh?
