The Begich Towers: A Real Life Arcology

Hello everyone, welcome back to another new episode of side projects. This one is about arcologies and a

real

life

version. He was a big fan of the game Simcity2000. Anybody else plays that game and you could build these arcologies. were simply fictional, I'm fascinated by this, let's jump to the word

arcology

, it conjures up images of densely populated high-tech skyscrapers, but

real

world examples show that this is not often the case, disappointingly, in the small town of Whittier, Alaska, almost everywhere in the world. The population lives in an old abandoned army building from the cold war era, but they not only live there, they work there, they go to the hospital there, they live their entire lives without needing to go out, today we are going to talk about this strange thing.

begich

towers

arcology

project in early 1941 the city of whittier did not exist the united states was preparing for a possible world war and the us military was looking for a new port city with access to the pacific they needed a new military port and logistics center that could function In conjunction with its base at Seawort, Alaska, the Army considered locations throughout the massive state and settled in a previously uninhabited area about 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of Anchorage, the state's largest city, calling the base Camp Sullivan. , but before sending troops there, a railroad needed to be completed to connect the area to the rest of Alaska.

The railroad required its own megaproject as the passage to civilization was blocked by the massive Maynard Mountain. The result was the longest tunnel in the United States, with a height of 4,050 meters, or 13,300 feet. long and granting access to Camp Sullivan via the Alaska Railroad despite its remoteness, the location provided some advantages, firstly, although it allowed access to Prince William Sound, it was located on a smaller body of water called the canal passing through, which meant the water was calmer. create more favorable conditions for a port; second, the passage channel was a deep-water, ice-free port, which is not common in Alaska;

Third, the area had notoriously cloudy weather, which meant it was safer from possible aircraft attacks, while World War II caused a delay in the development of Camp Sullivan, the plan becoming even more critical with the rise of the Cold War. Alaska's strategic location near Russia made the port even more important for sending troops for the war with the USSR, so in 1953 the army drew up a plan for a ten-building complex. The area would serve as a port and launching point and as headquarters for the US Army Corps of Engineers. Construction began a few years later, however, instead of moving forward with the original plan of ten buildings, they decided Stopping after just two buildings, those two buildings called the Hodge and the Bachner were hailed as the largest and most modern inhabited structures built by the Corps of Engineers since the Pentagon;

Then, on March 27, 1964, tragedy struck on Good Friday. The earthquake shook Alaska from an epicenter just 60 miles away from Camp Sullivan, triggering tsunamis and landslides throughout the region. The earthquake was recorded with a magnitude of 9.2, making it the second largest earthquake ever recorded. 120 people were killed, including 13 stationed at Camp Sullivan; However, as a testament to the quality of Hodges and Buckner, neither building was seriously damaged by the end of The year when the Army turned over the Hodge Building to the public and condensed its operations into the Buckner Building, the Army continued to house more of a thousand soldiers in Buckner over the next two years, earning the nickname of the city under one roof, however the army abandoned it. in 1966 and the building passed from one indifferent owner to another, leading to its eventual demise.

Instead, the Hodge Building became the roof under which the entire city lived. In the late 1960s, it marked the transition of Camp Sullivan from a military base to a town with crowned private citizens. upon incorporation as a city called Whittier in 1969. The Hodge Building immediately became the focal point of the city and served as office space for various public services. In 1972, the city voted to rename the building to begin with

towers

in honor of a beloved Alaska congressman who died in a plane crash. That year, in 1974, much of the building was converted into apartment-style housing. The new begging towers include 196 units, enough to house the entire city.

The structure is 14 stories high with a rectangular plan and a flat roof. The complex consists of three connected modules that constitute the main structure and two separate modules connected through tunnels within long corridors and elevators allow residents to access all areas of the complex, although the building has never been full, it quickly became into a popular home for locals, although most of the apartments were converted into offices. One notorious unit was originally a jail and the renovators decided to leave the original bars on the bedroom doors and steal bunk beds hanging from the walls, but don't worry as there was a really nice view of the water, you just have to look at it. through the bars of Of course, simply converting much of the building into housing would not qualify it as an arcology.

The building earned that rare designation by including all the services necessary to sustain human

life

without needing to leave the building. Amenities include the local grocery store, doctor's offices, and a laundromat. the police station and a multi-faith church, the city's mayor and city council operate from offices within the building, and the tower connects to the local public school via an underground tunnel. Recreation areas include an indoor pool and children's play area, of course, although it is quite convenient. to carry out all your daily errands without having to leave the building you live in, there are some disadvantages of having a large part of the city's economy concentrated in a single structure, for example, the building is supplied by two water boilers, one of which was out of service.

For many years, reports from 2015 showed that the only working boiler experienced malfunctions almost daily in winter, as the pipes regularly froze and limited access to hot water for most of the small town. In 2016, the local government applied for a grant from the US Department of Agriculture to renovate and update the building. Funding was approved giving them three million dollars for improvements to the mechanical system and facade. The most visible change was new work. of pastel paint for the exterior of the building although residents would probably prefer updated year-round hot water instead of paint until the year 2000, Whittier was not only a city under one roof, but also one of the cities least accessible in the United States during the first half century of its existence, the area could only be reached by boat, plane or train, however, the Anton Anderson monument tunnel opened at the beginning of the millennium and gave Witterides the Ability to enter and leave your city through the claustrophobic one-lane tunnel.

The tunnel connects Whittier to Anchorage, opening up opportunities for city residents. Some residents now make the hour-long trip to Whittier's highly accessible port has made it a surprisingly popular landing point for cruise ships sailing along the coasts of Alaska and Canada. Of course, these ships sail exclusively in the summer months when temperatures reach 10 degrees Celsius, or 50 degrees Fahrenheit, meaning the local economy and population fluctuate dramatically with the seasons at their peak. The population is just over 200 people, most of whom live in Begich towers. The neighbors are understandably close to each other. often hosting school lessons or municipal council meetings in their homes while preparing lunch, many residents try to create a mental separation between work and home by refusing to return to their apartment during the day;

However, it's hard to ignore the convenience of living just an elevator ride away from your workplace. Speaking of elevators, the tower's elevators tend to be crowded during morning and afternoon rush hours, but the stairs are available, residents take advantage of the summer months to go out and enjoy the 22 hours of sunshine, but the winter months often include days with more than three meters of snow - those are the days when it is worth living in the tower, but they also reveal a strange irony of existence in Begich's towers, despite sharing an apartment building with the majority of the city's tenants, they are isolated from the rest of the world as a result, social claustrophobia is so common like loneliness, so I really hope you found the video interesting.

If so, hit the approve button below. If you have a suggestion for a future side project video, leave it in the comments below. and thanks for watching