Where there was once death, Paul Liu is trying to create life by turning an old British-designed slaughterhouse into a centre of creativity.
In the 1930s, workers herded cows, pigs and sheep, brought by barge on a nearby tributary of Suzhou creek, up five flights of ramps in the building to be slaughtered to feed Shanghai's swelling population.
Now the structure will serve another purpose, offering an alternative to rampant commercialism in a city that is booming once again.
In doing so, Mr Liu and his partners hope to give new life to a long-forgotten area of Shanghai's northern Hongkou district.
Hongkou, previously known as Hongkew, was the northern part of the International Settlement. It has historically been considered a 'low corner' area, where slums mixed with mansions for foreigners.
Japanese forces moved around 16,000 Jewish refugees into a ghetto in the district in 1943.