(I'm sorry!) I stopped for a few days, I went to the field for urgent business, and I just settled down)

Gao Yi looked at the floor plan in his hand, the drawing is a roughly square hollow-shaped building, with a patio, each floor is divided into rooms on the outside, and the corridor is on the inside, the structure is relatively simple, the design is decent, and there is nothing special. Gao Yi looked at it twice, then put down the drawing, picked up the line drawing of the front façade and looked at it.

The large-scale line drawings are very detailed, and even the deformed baroque cartouches on the lintel are clearly depicted. It can be seen that the design of the building on the drawings is both classical and English neoclassical, with the floor and upper sections of the building being baroque and the middle section of the building in a modern architectural style with clean lines, which adopts the eclectic design that has just begun to prevail in this era.

The building is eight floors high, the façade as a whole is horizontal and vertical three-section format, the bottom arch ring stone, and the first and second floors of the exterior wall are made of large bricks to form the base; There are four Ionic columns at the main entrance, two on the left and right, and two small Ionic columns on the left and one on the left and one on the left at the inner door; The recessed part of the third to fifth floors is an inner balcony surrounded by a semicircular iron railing, which is simple in style; The sixth and eighth floors are again decorated with Ionic columns.

The Ionic column style is characterized by being relatively slender and beautiful, with 24 grooves in the column body and a pair of downward scroll decorations at the capital, which is elegant and noble. There were three types of Greek columns, Doric, Ionic and Corinthian columns, and as they appeared from early to late, the columns became thinner, more and more grooved, and the capitals became more and more intricately decorated. From the round capitals of the unadorned Doric columns, to the Ionic with cartouches, to the Corinthian columns, with their double rows of leaf plates, with their intricate foliage and small cartouches, the Greek columns increasingly shifted from functional to ornamental.

There is also a trend in the development of buildings in Shanghai, such as the building next door to the Shanghai General Assembly, built in the sixties of the nineteenth century, using Doric columns, and in recent years, the newly built mansions along Nanjing West Road have gradually begun to use Ionic columns. On the line drawing that Gao Yi had at hand, he naturally followed this new trend and meticulously drew a slender Ionic column. The typical cartouche decoration of the stigma, like a pair of sheep's horns, with a semicircular coupons carved with patterns, creates a magnificent, rich Baroque style.

The drawings were written by Robert Moorhead, a Scotsman who was a burgeoning construction engineer in the Engineering Division of the Ministry of Works. Although no final decision has been made on who will choose the design for the renovation of the Shanghai Association next door, Moorhead is the most vocal of all the contenders.

This time, Moorhead also participated in the competition, his design is the most satisfactory drawing that Gao Yi has received so far, and the other architects seem to be immersed in the colonial era, and the design is not even as good as the fifty-year-old building next door.

Of course, it can't be said that this drawing has nothing to improve at all, compared to the hollow-shaped layout, Gao Yi prefers to be concave, or simply L-shaped, so that the room area in the front direction can be larger, after all, he built this building not to rent out as an office building, and does not need so many neat rooms, on the contrary, he wants a series of luxurious halls, which can meet the needs of club members for various gatherings. As for the L-shaped layout, it is because in the future, the pidgin will definitely be filled in and become the widest arterial road in Shanghai, Aidoya Road, which will later be Yan'an East Road, so the east side of the building faces the direction of the Huangpu River and the south side faces the direction of Aidoya Road, which should be regarded as fronts, and the L-shaped layout can allow both fronts to gain greater depth.

Moorhead's steel-framed building with stone cladding would make it the first steel tower in Shanghai and remain the tallest building in Shanghai for at least two decades. However, if possible, Gao Yi still prefers to use a reinforced concrete frame structure instead of a steel frame. The self-seismic period of the steel structure is long, the structural rigidity is poor, and the seismic performance is relatively inferior to the steel concrete structure. Moreover, the steel structure has low weight and large ductility, and the use of lightweight partition walls will lead to poor sound insulation, heat insulation and moisture-proof effects, and if the wall material is not improved, it is not suitable for the climatic conditions of the south of the Yangtze River.

It's just that if you want to use reinforced concrete structures, it is not a simple thing, the bundling of steel bars, the pouring of concrete, these seemingly ordinary technologies, in this era of Shanghai, it is difficult to find experienced, qualified construction personnel. On the contrary, the steel structure building has more in common with the popular brick and wood structure building at this time, which is nothing more than the replacement of wood beams and columns with steel, which is easier for workers with experience in brick and wood construction engineering. Moreover, although there are no steel structure buildings in Shanghai, there are steel structure bridges, so it is relatively easy to find experienced construction units.

The most dissatisfying aspect of the design is the interior of the building, which looks too simple to look like an office building. Gao Yike has seen the black-and-white marble floors in the long-span halls designed by Moorhead for the Shanghai club, and the luxurious bar in Asia, which claims to be the first in Asia with a bar that is more than 30 meters long. This may be because he did not show his intention to build this building, as long as you look at the budget made by Moorhead, you can know that he did not design in luxury at all, the total budget is only 200,000 taels, less than half of the budget of 450,000 taels for the new building of the Shanghai Federation next door, you know, Gao Yi's land area is at least twice as large as next door, and the floor is also two floors higher than the six-story design next door.

In Gao Yi's mind, the budget of this building must reach at least 600,000 taels, and the level of luxury must exceed that of the Shanghai Federation next door. His definition of his club is the most extravagant place in Shanghai.

Since the opening of the club, nearly 70 new members have joined one after another, and it was not until this week that the calls asking to join completely stopped, and the current total number of club members, including Gao Yi himself, is exactly 166 people. How can all of them be racing enthusiasts, in fact, except for a few speed enthusiasts like Grisson and Burkyle, everyone else is at best interested in something as new as the car, and some are not even interested. The reason why these people are willing to spend 10,000 taels of silver to buy a membership is simply because only the really rich people here can join.

10,000 taels of silver, if converted into pounds, is fifteen hundred pounds, which is not too much, but it must be at least 30,000 pounds of property that a person can afford to spend. In fact, according to Gao Yi's statistics, his members must have an annual income of at least 5,000 pounds, which means that their wealth must reach at least 100,000 pounds. And the number of Westerners who can own so much property in Shanghai will not exceed two hundred.

Before the establishment of Gao Yi's club, there was no such top club in Shanghai. Even though the Shanghai Federation is known for its strict membership qualifications, it has thousands of members, and the most popular club is the most popular club that can be joined by Westerners. Although there are many other clubs, most of them are professional clubs such as the Amateur Actors' Association and the International Sports Association, or regional clubs such as the Scottish Association, the French Association, and the German Association. There has never been a club in the whole of Shanghai, which is strictly only for the rich, and the car genre happens to be fashionable enough that even in Europe is in its infancy, which is why so many people flock to it. Therefore, the tone of his club can only be to take the luxury route.