(frozen rooftop pyramids)
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Since I was in Calgary over the Christmas holidays, I couldn't resist going
to the Mall. Not for shopping, hell no! But I do love the interesting service
corridors and rooftops that can often be found in a large mall.
Naos and I met stong at what seemed to be a large and promising mall. However,
after a long, boring tour, we discovered it was too busy and too renovated
to be interesting. Still needing a good mall fix, we headed over to South
Centre Mall. It was getting dark by the time we got there, but we were counting
on Holiday hours to mean extended exploring time.
Our fortunes improved almost from the minute we walked past the first "Employees
Only" door we found. We came into some large service corridors that sported
a big, open double stairwell that went up and down several floors. At the
top, a cool metal staircase led up to a roof door that we, unfortunately,
could not open. At the bottom, a big concrete hallway crossed under the floor
of the mall and led back up to a bank of exterior emergency exit doors. This
area from the stairwell reminded me very much of the West Edmonton Mall, and
I had high hopes for what we would find next.
I wasn't disappointed, as the next set of doors we took led into some lenghty
service corridors. We decided to walk down one that looked nearly endless,
just a tall hallway with a tiny door way at the very end. Midway down this
hall, we came onto an interesting door that had a sign which piqued our curiosity.
Luckily for us, after Stong jiggled the door handle a bit, the door slid open.
Inside, a staircase led straight up to a roof access door! This door was unlocked,
and we emerged onto the wonderful South Centre Mall roof.
The sun had disappeared when we walked onto the roof, leaving only a faint
light in the west. The temperature was also dropping and I'd forgotten my
hat, gloves, and jacket in the car. Deciding to make the best of it, we all
split up and wandered about taking some photos.
The large middle of the roof is enclosed by raised, pyramid-shaped skylights,
which were lit by a warm yellow light from inside the mall. We could see the
reflections of shoppers on the glass, as they walked by in the warm mall below.
There were several large ventilation shacks (also shaped like triangles) which
were all locked. Naos and Mark climbed up onto a large ventilation unit, while
I stood down below with my frozen hands in my pockets.
Then we wandered over to a raised area of the mall, and found an open door.
Inside was a bizarre area; half was empty and the other was filled with large,
silver-walled fan rooms. We stayed in here a little while so that I could
warm up a bit before heading back out.
Afterwards, we roamed the snow-covered roof some more, crossing carefully
between glass skylights and around fan ducts. We each shot several more photos,
and roamed over to the edge of the roof. We found a huge area, walled off
from the rest of the roof and filled with huge fan units. Stong found a door
leading inside, but then came running back, saying he though he'd set off
an alarm. We decided it was a good idea to leave, and I was happy just to
get back inside.
We didn't cover the entire roof, but did see a satisfying chunk of it. We
left the mall after we came back down, but I'd love to return there someday
and check out the rest of the service corridors.
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Reduxzero in front of one of the pyramid skylights.
A large air unit on the roof.
Nifty glass skylights run in a circle around the roof.
Inside a fan room, a panel with dials and a nifty diagram.
Naos and Stong pose for a photo.
A large stairwell in the service corridors.
The short tunnel under the mall.
Stong ascends the stairs to the exit.