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In 2003, while I was studying in a cinema college program, me and my friends gained access to the maintenance corridors between the walls of the school in order

In 2003, while I was studying in a cinema college program, me and my friends gained access to the maintenance corridors between the walls of the school in order to make an horror movie. We discovered a large unused area with a table, a couch, a television powered on and directly connected to a single hidden camera pointing at the corridor on the other side of the wall, but not recording. We went back the next year and everything was still in place, the TV powered on, but everything covered with dust. I assume someone (a lazy employee?) was using this place to relax, but wanted to check if someone was coming up. Maybe that employee was fired without anyone ever discovering his hidden refuge. Townsend (the artist) was ultimately caught, but I figure there must be thousand of these hidden spaces scattered in every big buildings, and we will never hear about them.

dolmen 5y ago
Paris has the Catacombs. A very small part is opened to the public as a museum, but most of the area is the territory of underground explorers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombs_of_Paris https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombs_of_Paris
Karawebnetwork 5y ago
> but I figure there must be thousand of these hidden spaces scattered in every big buildings, and we will never hear about them. Most likely. This story reminds me that as a kid in the 90's we figured out that the walls under the bottom floor of every building in the neighborhood led to a hollow space big enough to be called a small room. It didn't take long for most blocks to have a hole in them with a sheet of plywood to hide the easy access. I was lucky that the one in my friend's block was mostly occupied by other kids and had pastel drawings on all the walls. Rumor had it that some of the other blocks were used for less reputable reasons. I always wondered what happened to those spaces. I tried to go there once, but the buildings now have locked doors. Had we been adults, it would have been very easy to add furniture and perhaps even electricity.
dbuxton 5y ago
There is a fantastic Michael Chabon book _The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay_ which has a similar space carved out of the Empire State Building. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Adventures_of_Kavalier_%26_Clay https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Adventures_of_Kava...
- zuzun 5y ago
  Also a Goosebumps book where the kids discover someone living in their school like this.
ModernMech 5y ago
> Townsend (the artist) was ultimately caught, but I figure there must be thousand of these hidden spaces scattered in every big buildings Look up the term "phrogging". There's a whole culture of people dedicated to living undetected in places where they're not supposed to.
Fatnino 5y ago
That TV has a bad case of burn in by now.
EricE 5y ago
Thousands - or more. Was working at a plant when a "lounge" was discovered in a void behind a row of workers lockers. Someone had figured out the space behind the lockers was empty - and rather large - so they removed the back of on of them and turned it into a secret room. I'll be stuff like that is all over the place.
cardiffspaceman 5y ago
When I was a child, I had dreams about an almost inaccessible room in the family home. Then when I was 10, I went for a drafting Merit Badge in the Cub Scouts, and plotted the floor plan of our house. Assuming standard Euclidean Geometry, no, there isn't a hidden room. But now I keep reading about secret servants' passages in stately homes, hotels, and the like.
reaperducer 5y ago
someone (a lazy employee?) was using this place to relax This sort of thing happens more often than most people relize. The maintenance staff at 311 South Wacker in Chicago set up a makeshift basketball court in the empty mechanical space on the 69th floor. https://www.chicagoarchitecture.info/building.php?id=1055 https://www.chicagoarchitecture.info/building.php?id=1055

dolmen 5y ago

Paris has the Catacombs. A very small part is opened to the public as a museum, but most of the area is the territory of underground explorers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombs_of_Paris https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombs_of_Paris

Karawebnetwork 5y ago

> but I figure there must be thousand of these hidden spaces scattered in every big buildings, and we will never hear about them. Most likely. This story reminds me that as a kid in the 90's we figured out that the walls under the bottom floor of every building in the neighborhood led to a hollow space big enough to be called a small room. It didn't take long for most blocks to have a hole in them with a sheet of plywood to hide the easy access. I was lucky that the one in my friend's block was mostly occupied by other kids and had pastel drawings on all the walls. Rumor had it that some of the other blocks were used for less reputable reasons. I always wondered what happened to those spaces. I tried to go there once, but the buildings now have locked doors. Had we been adults, it would have been very easy to add furniture and perhaps even electricity.

dbuxton 5y ago

There is a fantastic Michael Chabon book _The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay_ which has a similar space carved out of the Empire State Building. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Adventures_of_Kavalier_%26_Clay https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Adventures_of_Kava...

zuzun 5y ago
Also a Goosebumps book where the kids discover someone living in their school like this.

ModernMech 5y ago

> Townsend (the artist) was ultimately caught, but I figure there must be thousand of these hidden spaces scattered in every big buildings Look up the term "phrogging". There's a whole culture of people dedicated to living undetected in places where they're not supposed to.

Fatnino 5y ago

That TV has a bad case of burn in by now.

EricE 5y ago

Thousands - or more. Was working at a plant when a "lounge" was discovered in a void behind a row of workers lockers. Someone had figured out the space behind the lockers was empty - and rather large - so they removed the back of on of them and turned it into a secret room. I'll be stuff like that is all over the place.

cardiffspaceman 5y ago

When I was a child, I had dreams about an almost inaccessible room in the family home. Then when I was 10, I went for a drafting Merit Badge in the Cub Scouts, and plotted the floor plan of our house. Assuming standard Euclidean Geometry, no, there isn't a hidden room. But now I keep reading about secret servants' passages in stately homes, hotels, and the like.

reaperducer 5y ago

someone (a lazy employee?) was using this place to relax This sort of thing happens more often than most people relize. The maintenance staff at 311 South Wacker in Chicago set up a makeshift basketball court in the empty mechanical space on the 69th floor. https://www.chicagoarchitecture.info/building.php?id=1055 https://www.chicagoarchitecture.info/building.php?id=1055