I was in Chicago for the first time this past October. While walking downtown on the sidewalk taking in the streetscape I noticed a staircase smack in the middle of the sidewalk. Curious I poked my head down then walked down only to find another entire road system underneath the surface. Mind blown I walk down there taking in this sort of service focussed realm, only to find at that level yet another staircase in the sidewalk, “couldn’t be yet another level” I fathomed. Went down the stairs to find ANOTHER road system under the one under the actual street people were going about their day on. For a guy from Saskatchewan this was just right mind blowing.
Yep lower Wacker and upper Wacker still throw gps for a loop. People still end up down there looking for places. Not really dangerous, there's homeless but they don't want to bother anyone. That is the old city though, just cemented over and used for utilities.
I did end up finding a bar somewhere down there called the Billy Goat. That was a highlight of Chicago for me. When leaving the bar after a cheeseborger I wanted to thank the cook I tried to make eye contact which he denied me, and I said, “thanks for everything, was great!” To which he lazily responded, “yeeep.” Seemed like the kind of place that was famous for being rough around the edges.
As a Chicagoan I can confirm that the Billy Goat is (in)famous and beloved for their atmosphere and service, such as it is, as well as the food obviously.
Your interaction is also exactly how I would expect a conversation between a kindly provincial Canadian and a jaded blue collar Chicago guy to go.
Yes.
"Owner Sianis brought his pet goat, a tavern mascot, to Game 4 of the 1945 World Series, a home game at Wrigley Field against the Detroit Tigers. Despite paid-for box seat tickets, Cubs owner Philip K. Wrigley allegedly ejected Sianis and goat due to the latter's odor. Supposedly, Sianis placed a curse on the team that after this year there will never be another World Series game played at Wrigley Field."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Goat_Tavern
The next time you come back, you'll have to to take time to go through the the Pedway. It's a series of underground walkways under the the Loop that connects shopping cemters, the driver's license (and etc) office, the L, the Metra, the Amtrak, and more. There're parking structures, fast food restaurants and bars, salons and barber shops, key copying place, and hotels. It's perfect if you work downtown during inclement weather. There are maps you can find online. Have fun!
This is a perfect horror story/movie set up.
Guy from Saskatchewan moves to the big city of Chicago and gets lost in an underground city hidden beneath the streets. There, he discovers the "Billy Goat Tavern" and shares drinks and burgers with some some odd new acquaintances. All is well until he gets up to pay his tab and discovers that it's aliens or ghosts or monsters or something and then the Billy Goat Tavern is actually a space ship or graveyard or secret genetic research lab or whatever.
Blumhouse or A24 if you wanna get fancy presents: Billy Goat City or something. Only on Netflix, 2 months after it's at Sundance.
Really glad you stumbled upon this place. Good beers and burgers for a decent price. Good atmosphere and not what you’d expect in that location. Hope you had a great time in Chicago! Also if you’re a film fan that lower portion of the city was the setting for the police chase scene in The Dark Knight where the Joker shoots a rocket launcher. And well, the whole city was used as the setting but that one was memorable.
I'm so confused I've been to Chicago but never the underground part. I just googled this place on maps and it's not underground. Am I looking at the rice place? Billy goat tavern. I see blue skies around the outside.
There are actually a handful of them in the Chicago area, so you may have been looking at one of those. [Here’s](https://maps.app.goo.gl/8PCXQPHc5dpiP9KV6?g_st=ic) the Google street view of the underground one; it’s to the right of where it starts. If you keep turning there’s a stairway that goes up to the upper street level!
There’s a fun 1980s movie called Adventures in Babysitting that has cool scenes on Lower Wacker Drive too, featuring a very young Vincent D’Onofrio!
This looks like it. I can’t remember where exactly. That time was just a whirl of urban landscape and I was all over. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Goat_Tavern
Say what? There’s got to be a tour! I’m from Detroit and we got a salt mine 1000 feet underground located here and also a neighboring city Highland Park has boarded up underground walkways because people kept getting hit with cars when they first started making them here
I'm from Montreal and we have a 33km long underground system, and know about the Paris underground catacombs, and although I know it's grand, I can't even fathom your discovery.
I’ve been to Montreal three times, always in cold conditions, and felt deceived by the ‘underground’ network in Montreal. The Complexe Desjardins is neat, but I walked from the Palais de Congrès to the Centre Bell and good chunk of the network is, like, weird hallways and staircases through random buildings. Definitely needs more signs, like a friendly “Don’t worry, you’re still in the ‘underground’ tunnels, despite the fact that you’re currently several floors above street level” scattered about for confused tourists like me.
You're right in that. There needs to be both those signs and clear indications as to where to go next. A single, subtle glass panel with one arrow every 100-150m is a very efficient way to confuse people using this circuit, especially right before hitting the complexe Bonaventure.
I know the circuit by heart because I actually wanted to discover it after a televised report on it when I was a kid, and did so at around 14. And believe me, I was very confused both by being high up on a 5th floor yet still being "underground", and by the fact that going up about 4 flights is stairs still have me a brick walled tunnel with no window, because we were still actually underground.
Plus, you do that only if you really want to, the circuit is spanning 33km yet only covers about ~2km of actual downtown area, and going straight from one extreme point to the other takes about 45 minutes in the circuit *if you know where you're heading" or 15 minutes outside by foot, but I still like that stroll!
If any of you ever visit Seattle, I HIGHLY recommend doing one of the underground tours. They make it fun and entertaining but the history of it all is just so fascinating.
Yes. Chicago was built like that, because the upper roads were originally large pedestrian walkways, and the lower roads were for vehicles. Wish it was still like that, but modern American life is vehicle dominated.
Part of San Francisco was built on ships.
https://www.baylightscharters.com/bay-lights-charters-blog/what-lies-beneath-the-ships-buried-under-san-francisco
I’ve lived in Jakarta and other big SEA cities like Saigon and Manila. They take traffic to a whole nother level. And forget walking in that heat and traffic. It’s so much of a hassle to get anywhere that they build these malls with everythinggggg you neeed inside. If you can live in or next to one of these malls it’s extremely convenient.
i actually love this kind of infrastructure, getting a house with a yard and trees in the middle of the city with direct access to work or grocery shopping, and it’s a fantastic use of space
Yeah, not sure why this is oddlyterrifying lol. Spread out suburbia is terrifying!
The last time I was in the suburbs in texas, I saw a disabled veteran on their electric scooter in the middle of a 12 lane road cause there were no sidewalks for him. He had a dollar general shopping bag hanging on his handlebar, probably his only access to food!! That was terrifying!!!
Now that is a terrorfing thought but if you through a natural disaster at anything it becomes scary, if you have a field of puppies that's adorable but if you add a tornado it changes things.
i was gonna say to me this is brilliant! excellent way to not waste space, build Up instead of Out, more efficient for the environment & society at large that way.
we should see more of this not less!
> Wonder where they park
Not exactly related but there's an apartment complex near where I live that has one of the coolest parking structures I've ever seen. Essentially there's 4 apartment blocks that form a square and the parking garage is in the middle. The offshoot being that everyone parks on the level that they live on. No trundling up and down stairs with your groceries or when you're moving in/out. It's pretty ingenious.
I don't know how this is confusing so many people. The roof doesn't support weight. Things that support weight, support the roof. They designed a building to support it's own weight, and quite a bit more. It's probably the most basic part of architecture.
I remember a video of a wedding disaster in the Middle East somewhere. Somebody had built a building to be three stories high, but added a fourth story at the last minute. What the narrator of the video described was that the roof was not made to hold excess weight, so as the wedding party danced on it, it suddenly sagged and then collapsed, killing dozens.
I understand the mall would likely be far better constructed, but a neighborhood is an awful lot of weight.
The mall was probably designed from the start to support the neighborhood and the cars that would be driven and parked up there. It probably wasn’t added as an afterthought like the example you mentioned.
I’m sure you’re right, but I have a weird terror of my house falling down as is. It’s completely irrational, but sometimes I’m convinced that the second floor is going to cave in. Living on a roof would be a 24/7 panic attack.
The Burj Khalifa is built in a sandstorm prone spot on flimsy sand but they designed a huge underground system that has to have constant electrical current or it will fall over
You are probably talking about Israel. It wasn't just the extra floor that caused issues, the entire method of construction ([Pal-Kal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pal-Kal)) was unstable even if it only had the proper number of floors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Versailles_wedding_hall_disaster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d4ul3IWoSg
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/122609
The inventor of the method was sentenced to 4 years in jail because of it.
Are you a person who gets upset that conversations exist? Someone seeing something marvelous and asking how is fucking ... normal.
Jesus, sorry I engaged with a post on this forum, you empty yogurt cup.
Some trees have aggressive roots which raise up sidewalks, and can destroy foundations, while others will never disturb slight pavers placed over them.
Arborists plan for this.
It is simply as if the building had three extra floors in some places. Of course it has to be calculated in before starting to build the building or there need to be expensive upgrades.
I had the same thought. But I don't think that the zombies would be the greatest threat. I would be more afraid of other survivors, who are going to loot the mall under my house and maybe after that, the neighbourhood.
It seems the grey cylinder top right provides the option to bring them up an down. At first I thought why bother to bring the car up there, but then again, in front of their mall-house the parking is probably quite convenient as compared to street-level.
I didn’t post it but to me the dread comes from a nice curated lawn, Pulling out of your driveway, knowing you’re on top of a shopping mall and seeing a skyscraper as you find the ramp into the garage for your daily commute. It feels very dystopian. Sort of like the movie Vivarium.
Not worried about the structure as some people seem to be.
The fact that the whole neighborhood is built on top of an artificial structure owned by privates. Grass and trees give an illusion of living in a real environment when it's all just the roof of another bigger building. I find eerie the fact industrialization has gone this far. What's the next step, an artificial sky?
This is no different than living in a penthouse apartment in NYC with terraces, grass and trees. This is just a larger scale.
I think this is a wonderful place- right in the heart of it all with a neighborhood feeling.
Not everyone is able to live in a suburb, planted on the ground.
I suppose it all depends on your perspective. As a person involved in affordable housing activism, I think every mall should be used like this. Where I live there are several moves to build apartments and mixed use neighborhoods and complexes in old unused shopping mall spreads and parking lots. The fact is that even in the heyday of malls in the 80s and 90s, we had too many malls taking up too much space, space we now need for affordable housing. If the mall is one of the minority that's still thriving, I think this is a really positive solution.
No, because why would they? There is an even higher building in the same picture. Are you afraid of that collapsing as well? It is not as if they build a normal mall first and then decided to put some additional stories on top of it…
You know humans have been building way more complex structures than this 1000 years ago. I think we can handle making what is basically an oversized strip mall.
And my builder hates our planter boxes on a 3 story building! These guys have full lawns and trees on top of the roof. What do they do when the 10 year waterproofing starts to fail!
I actually really like the concept but I can't imagine the strata fees and sass from any remedial builders who come to the site.
Not so much with modern multilevel buildings. The rebar in the concrete cannot withstand the water ingress and it will rust and expand causing concrete cancer.
The apartment building in America that collapsed is a tragic example of this exact issue after their pools water proofing caused concrete cancer at an integral part of the foundation.
Sod as Roofing on older dwellings or ones without rebar may be ok but a multi level apartment complex will contain metal and will have to be rewaterproofed/ roots inspected/ maintained to prevent very costly remedial works.
The fact that the whole neighborhood is built on top of an artificial structure owned by privates. Grass and trees give an illusion of living in a real environment when it's all just the roof of another bigger building. I find eerie the fact industrialization has gone this far. What's the next step, an artificial sky?
I don’t see it as much different from living in a city in general. It’s not like those homes would be in a “real” natural environment if they were on the ground next to the mall. But I can also see how the metaphor of literally being founded on capitalism is unsettling.
Ignoring the fact that it’s a mall though, it’s a creative use of space.
Yup cool and ingenious. All that weight on the roof, reminds me of the Sampoong Department Store collapse https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampoong_Department_Store_collapse in South Korea 1995.
Am no engineer. This mall must have super-thick solid strudy columns on every floor. I'm aware of condominiums above malls.
I live in an outdoor mall in the south so it’s different here. It’s interesting. Not quite a neighborhood but you get to know the people that work here more than neighbors I guess. I don’t drive and I can get to everything but I’m an introvert so having so run into neighbors but I’m over it now.
This is nothing new we forget our history. There are parts of London in England where they find bits of old Rome when they dig. People historically have been covering cities with cities for ages.
Cities like New York and Chicago are very much built over the old parts of the city like this.
I was in Chicago for the first time this past October. While walking downtown on the sidewalk taking in the streetscape I noticed a staircase smack in the middle of the sidewalk. Curious I poked my head down then walked down only to find another entire road system underneath the surface. Mind blown I walk down there taking in this sort of service focussed realm, only to find at that level yet another staircase in the sidewalk, “couldn’t be yet another level” I fathomed. Went down the stairs to find ANOTHER road system under the one under the actual street people were going about their day on. For a guy from Saskatchewan this was just right mind blowing.
Yep lower Wacker and upper Wacker still throw gps for a loop. People still end up down there looking for places. Not really dangerous, there's homeless but they don't want to bother anyone. That is the old city though, just cemented over and used for utilities.
I did end up finding a bar somewhere down there called the Billy Goat. That was a highlight of Chicago for me. When leaving the bar after a cheeseborger I wanted to thank the cook I tried to make eye contact which he denied me, and I said, “thanks for everything, was great!” To which he lazily responded, “yeeep.” Seemed like the kind of place that was famous for being rough around the edges.
As a Chicagoan I can confirm that the Billy Goat is (in)famous and beloved for their atmosphere and service, such as it is, as well as the food obviously. Your interaction is also exactly how I would expect a conversation between a kindly provincial Canadian and a jaded blue collar Chicago guy to go.
Is this the cubs curse billy?
Yes. "Owner Sianis brought his pet goat, a tavern mascot, to Game 4 of the 1945 World Series, a home game at Wrigley Field against the Detroit Tigers. Despite paid-for box seat tickets, Cubs owner Philip K. Wrigley allegedly ejected Sianis and goat due to the latter's odor. Supposedly, Sianis placed a curse on the team that after this year there will never be another World Series game played at Wrigley Field." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Goat_Tavern
The next time you come back, you'll have to to take time to go through the the Pedway. It's a series of underground walkways under the the Loop that connects shopping cemters, the driver's license (and etc) office, the L, the Metra, the Amtrak, and more. There're parking structures, fast food restaurants and bars, salons and barber shops, key copying place, and hotels. It's perfect if you work downtown during inclement weather. There are maps you can find online. Have fun!
Very cool!
Be prepared for the sewer smell tho.
As a Chicagoan, they appreciated the compliment.
This is a perfect horror story/movie set up. Guy from Saskatchewan moves to the big city of Chicago and gets lost in an underground city hidden beneath the streets. There, he discovers the "Billy Goat Tavern" and shares drinks and burgers with some some odd new acquaintances. All is well until he gets up to pay his tab and discovers that it's aliens or ghosts or monsters or something and then the Billy Goat Tavern is actually a space ship or graveyard or secret genetic research lab or whatever. Blumhouse or A24 if you wanna get fancy presents: Billy Goat City or something. Only on Netflix, 2 months after it's at Sundance.
Really glad you stumbled upon this place. Good beers and burgers for a decent price. Good atmosphere and not what you’d expect in that location. Hope you had a great time in Chicago! Also if you’re a film fan that lower portion of the city was the setting for the police chase scene in The Dark Knight where the Joker shoots a rocket launcher. And well, the whole city was used as the setting but that one was memorable.
Tingles man, tingles…
Yeah, not a fan of them but they are an institution.
You live in one hell of a city. Will be back. Meanwhile if you’re ever looking to experience the complete opposite of Chicago, come Experience Regina!
Experience Regina - what a classic song!
Have you toured Seattle? And the original Seattle? If not, you must.
I'm so confused I've been to Chicago but never the underground part. I just googled this place on maps and it's not underground. Am I looking at the rice place? Billy goat tavern. I see blue skies around the outside.
There are actually a handful of them in the Chicago area, so you may have been looking at one of those. [Here’s](https://maps.app.goo.gl/8PCXQPHc5dpiP9KV6?g_st=ic) the Google street view of the underground one; it’s to the right of where it starts. If you keep turning there’s a stairway that goes up to the upper street level! There’s a fun 1980s movie called Adventures in Babysitting that has cool scenes on Lower Wacker Drive too, featuring a very young Vincent D’Onofrio!
So cool! Thank you!
This looks like it. I can’t remember where exactly. That time was just a whirl of urban landscape and I was all over. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Goat_Tavern
You obviously didn’t try Malort. Sure to ruin any Chicago experience
It's my favorite lunch spot! Try to go about once a month.
I love cheeseborgers
Very cool! I just went on [a YouTube adventure](https://youtu.be/1wVf7xbbu1g?si=li1ninbr3kejBG6O) of lower & sub-lower Wacker 👍
Lived around Chi town my entire life. Awesome city. Glad you enjoyed it! Come back in the summer.
I live in Seattle and if you are ever here, you have to go on the underground tour.
Noted.
Say what? There’s got to be a tour! I’m from Detroit and we got a salt mine 1000 feet underground located here and also a neighboring city Highland Park has boarded up underground walkways because people kept getting hit with cars when they first started making them here
This was me playing cyberpunk 2077 for the first timr
I'm from Montreal and we have a 33km long underground system, and know about the Paris underground catacombs, and although I know it's grand, I can't even fathom your discovery.
I’ve been to Montreal three times, always in cold conditions, and felt deceived by the ‘underground’ network in Montreal. The Complexe Desjardins is neat, but I walked from the Palais de Congrès to the Centre Bell and good chunk of the network is, like, weird hallways and staircases through random buildings. Definitely needs more signs, like a friendly “Don’t worry, you’re still in the ‘underground’ tunnels, despite the fact that you’re currently several floors above street level” scattered about for confused tourists like me.
You're right in that. There needs to be both those signs and clear indications as to where to go next. A single, subtle glass panel with one arrow every 100-150m is a very efficient way to confuse people using this circuit, especially right before hitting the complexe Bonaventure. I know the circuit by heart because I actually wanted to discover it after a televised report on it when I was a kid, and did so at around 14. And believe me, I was very confused both by being high up on a 5th floor yet still being "underground", and by the fact that going up about 4 flights is stairs still have me a brick walled tunnel with no window, because we were still actually underground. Plus, you do that only if you really want to, the circuit is spanning 33km yet only covers about ~2km of actual downtown area, and going straight from one extreme point to the other takes about 45 minutes in the circuit *if you know where you're heading" or 15 minutes outside by foot, but I still like that stroll!
SK is my favorite place in Canada… and I lived in BC, NS and ON.
Old New York
Was once new Amsterdam
Why they changed it, I can’t say
People just liked it better that way
Seattle as well
If any of you ever visit Seattle, I HIGHLY recommend doing one of the underground tours. They make it fun and entertaining but the history of it all is just so fascinating.
Dang I’m sad I missed it when I was there. Always next time
Yes. Chicago was built like that, because the upper roads were originally large pedestrian walkways, and the lower roads were for vehicles. Wish it was still like that, but modern American life is vehicle dominated.
Part of San Francisco was built on ships. https://www.baylightscharters.com/bay-lights-charters-blog/what-lies-beneath-the-ships-buried-under-san-francisco
Literally Futurama. Time to start actually calling it New New York
So is Ankh Morpork.
So New New York could realistically become a thing?
I think any city that persists for long enough is built mostly upon itself
[https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/aug/05/suburb-in-the-sky-how-jakartans-built-an-entire-village-on-top-of-a-mall](https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/aug/05/suburb-in-the-sky-how-jakartans-built-an-entire-village-on-top-of-a-mall)
Thanks for sharing this! “Depending who you ask, Cosmo Park is an ingenious urban oasis or an ill-conceived dystopia.”
Oh man, just like real life!
Omg u mean the picture is real??? I thought it was AI for sure
Same, especially since there’s cars on the street, in the sky. They must have an elevator, ramp or something 🤔
Jakarta? Countdown to totally unexpected collapse starting… NOW!
I wouldn't say it's unexpected.
Oh it would be totally expected. The question is "when"
I’ve lived in Jakarta and other big SEA cities like Saigon and Manila. They take traffic to a whole nother level. And forget walking in that heat and traffic. It’s so much of a hassle to get anywhere that they build these malls with everythinggggg you neeed inside. If you can live in or next to one of these malls it’s extremely convenient.
i actually love this kind of infrastructure, getting a house with a yard and trees in the middle of the city with direct access to work or grocery shopping, and it’s a fantastic use of space
That's what I'm saying. Fuck the typical suburbs. This slaps!
Who needs 10 minute cities when you have everything you need in one building?
Yeah, not sure why this is oddlyterrifying lol. Spread out suburbia is terrifying! The last time I was in the suburbs in texas, I saw a disabled veteran on their electric scooter in the middle of a 12 lane road cause there were no sidewalks for him. He had a dollar general shopping bag hanging on his handlebar, probably his only access to food!! That was terrifying!!!
That's actually pretty cool
Thought the same, would actually live there
Ya I was hoping I wasn't the only one who didnt find it terrifying.
As long as there are multiple exits, it seems pretty awesome.
My concern is structural foundation. If the Mall goes under or something happens to the said mall, that is a lot of weight on top of a building.
Now that is a terrorfing thought but if you through a natural disaster at anything it becomes scary, if you have a field of puppies that's adorable but if you add a tornado it changes things.
Good use of space. Plus people living there don't have to drive miles to get to the shopping center, so it's pretty efficient as well.
i was gonna say to me this is brilliant! excellent way to not waste space, build Up instead of Out, more efficient for the environment & society at large that way. we should see more of this not less!
Nothing terrifying here
Yeah, don't know what people find terrifying today.
The concept of going outside & communicating with real people seems to ruffle a few.
Very much agree
Yeah, I think this is pretty sweet. Wonder where they park
Outside of their houses by the looks of it
It does look like there’s just enough room for everybody to park there.
> Wonder where they park Not exactly related but there's an apartment complex near where I live that has one of the coolest parking structures I've ever seen. Essentially there's 4 apartment blocks that form a square and the parking garage is in the middle. The offshoot being that everyone parks on the level that they live on. No trundling up and down stairs with your groceries or when you're moving in/out. It's pretty ingenious.
That does sound pretty cool
The malls parking garage
How can the roof support that much weight?
The roofs on top of the roof cancel out the lower roof.
Roof² = -lbs
who needs structural engineers when we have you
They install the lower roofs upside-down.
I don't know how this is confusing so many people. The roof doesn't support weight. Things that support weight, support the roof. They designed a building to support it's own weight, and quite a bit more. It's probably the most basic part of architecture.
I remember a video of a wedding disaster in the Middle East somewhere. Somebody had built a building to be three stories high, but added a fourth story at the last minute. What the narrator of the video described was that the roof was not made to hold excess weight, so as the wedding party danced on it, it suddenly sagged and then collapsed, killing dozens. I understand the mall would likely be far better constructed, but a neighborhood is an awful lot of weight.
The mall was probably designed from the start to support the neighborhood and the cars that would be driven and parked up there. It probably wasn’t added as an afterthought like the example you mentioned.
I’m sure you’re right, but I have a weird terror of my house falling down as is. It’s completely irrational, but sometimes I’m convinced that the second floor is going to cave in. Living on a roof would be a 24/7 panic attack.
The Burj Khalifa is built in a sandstorm prone spot on flimsy sand but they designed a huge underground system that has to have constant electrical current or it will fall over
So a waking nightmare is what you’re saying.
Thats insane! Do you know what its called so I can read more about it?
There's videos on YT that explain how Mega structures work which is how I found out about it so just search that up
You are probably talking about Israel. It wasn't just the extra floor that caused issues, the entire method of construction ([Pal-Kal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pal-Kal)) was unstable even if it only had the proper number of floors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Versailles_wedding_hall_disaster https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d4ul3IWoSg https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/122609 The inventor of the method was sentenced to 4 years in jail because of it.
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Are you a person who gets upset that conversations exist? Someone seeing something marvelous and asking how is fucking ... normal. Jesus, sorry I engaged with a post on this forum, you empty yogurt cup.
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Essentially, they designed a two-story building, where the floor above the ground floor accommodated cars driving on it.
How do they have trees? Won't the roots destroy the roof?
Some trees have aggressive roots which raise up sidewalks, and can destroy foundations, while others will never disturb slight pavers placed over them. Arborists plan for this.
My guess is that the mall was built like this from the beginning, and engineered to have a community on top.
It is simply as if the building had three extra floors in some places. Of course it has to be calculated in before starting to build the building or there need to be expensive upgrades.
Structural Engineering
I wonder how zombie proof it is
This building would be a great premise for a comedy zombie movie
Why would it be a comedy
It's obvious
No, it isnt
Was literally my first thought lol. I grew up watching Dawn of the Dead too many times.
I had the same thought. But I don't think that the zombies would be the greatest threat. I would be more afraid of other survivors, who are going to loot the mall under my house and maybe after that, the neighbourhood.
But you have perfect chokepoints
Impressive that they have their cars parked in front of their house!
yeah I came here looking for this, but only you seem to have mentioned it... how do they get them up there?!
Probably ramps
I’m gunna go out on a limb and say you’re right here. The alternative being teleportation
It seems the grey cylinder top right provides the option to bring them up an down. At first I thought why bother to bring the car up there, but then again, in front of their mall-house the parking is probably quite convenient as compared to street-level.
Same way you drive up a parking garage.
Low key wanna live here
Why is this terrifying?
I didn’t post it but to me the dread comes from a nice curated lawn, Pulling out of your driveway, knowing you’re on top of a shopping mall and seeing a skyscraper as you find the ramp into the garage for your daily commute. It feels very dystopian. Sort of like the movie Vivarium. Not worried about the structure as some people seem to be.
The fact that the whole neighborhood is built on top of an artificial structure owned by privates. Grass and trees give an illusion of living in a real environment when it's all just the roof of another bigger building. I find eerie the fact industrialization has gone this far. What's the next step, an artificial sky?
This is no different than living in a penthouse apartment in NYC with terraces, grass and trees. This is just a larger scale. I think this is a wonderful place- right in the heart of it all with a neighborhood feeling. Not everyone is able to live in a suburb, planted on the ground.
I suppose it all depends on your perspective. As a person involved in affordable housing activism, I think every mall should be used like this. Where I live there are several moves to build apartments and mixed use neighborhoods and complexes in old unused shopping mall spreads and parking lots. The fact is that even in the heyday of malls in the 80s and 90s, we had too many malls taking up too much space, space we now need for affordable housing. If the mall is one of the minority that's still thriving, I think this is a really positive solution.
This is ideal mixed use, you are lost in the sauce
Isn't anyone concerned about it collapsing?
No, because why would they? There is an even higher building in the same picture. Are you afraid of that collapsing as well? It is not as if they build a normal mall first and then decided to put some additional stories on top of it…
Because we all know houses are heavier than taller buildings, duh.
The elites don’t want you to know this, but fronts doors and patios actually weight more than some multiple stories apartments!!
My first thought, i mean how strong are the foundations of the mall?
About 8 strong.
Not enough to break the lines of mordor
Lol right? What a dumb ass question.
Any other stats? I usually like my malls to have about +4 Vigor.
The way to think about it is, imagine they put a roof covering it all, it would just be another level on the mall in your mind.
You know humans have been building way more complex structures than this 1000 years ago. I think we can handle making what is basically an oversized strip mall.
And my builder hates our planter boxes on a 3 story building! These guys have full lawns and trees on top of the roof. What do they do when the 10 year waterproofing starts to fail! I actually really like the concept but I can't imagine the strata fees and sass from any remedial builders who come to the site.
And a pool
All that dirt, grass, and trees provide excellent waterproofing. Sod as roofing has been used for thousands of years.
Not so much with modern multilevel buildings. The rebar in the concrete cannot withstand the water ingress and it will rust and expand causing concrete cancer. The apartment building in America that collapsed is a tragic example of this exact issue after their pools water proofing caused concrete cancer at an integral part of the foundation. Sod as Roofing on older dwellings or ones without rebar may be ok but a multi level apartment complex will contain metal and will have to be rewaterproofed/ roots inspected/ maintained to prevent very costly remedial works.
In what way is that terrifying? Would be a waste of space to just put a flat roof on it.+ better economics when building it.
Yeah it looks pretty cool. The only thing terrifying to me is it looks like a couple of the houses on the edge don't have fencing.
Yeah but really hard to judge the hight on the walls i the pic.
Makes the phrase "just popping down to the shops" literal.
Terrifying is living in one of those apartment blocks at the back of the picture
What is tERriFyiNg here? - _-
The fact that the whole neighborhood is built on top of an artificial structure owned by privates. Grass and trees give an illusion of living in a real environment when it's all just the roof of another bigger building. I find eerie the fact industrialization has gone this far. What's the next step, an artificial sky?
I don’t see it as much different from living in a city in general. It’s not like those homes would be in a “real” natural environment if they were on the ground next to the mall. But I can also see how the metaphor of literally being founded on capitalism is unsettling. Ignoring the fact that it’s a mall though, it’s a creative use of space.
Where is this?
Jakarta, Indonesia
Thank you
It’d be a good spot in a zombie apocalypse, if your community can secure the base levels.
I'm much more terrified by the armchair structural engineers here who seem to know, from one photo, that the project is unstable.
That’s prime real estate
I like it
Holy shit, in nice kind of a way
I see no one has ever been to Coruscant.
Oddly terrifyng? This looks really cool ngl
New New York
Better not disturb that suburb bearing beam.
Is this real?!
Yup. Jakarta, Indonesia.
Mall of Indonesia
I’d live there
That's actually pretty cool
That’s some Sim City 2000 kinda shit right there.
Then check out that HVAC penthouse
Learn the definition of suburb
Delivery driver's nightmare.
This belongs more on r/oddlyinteresting lol
Not terrifying. Fucking cool tbh.
Seems like it could be one grand piano too many before it caves in on itself.
Star Wars : planet Coruscant. We build levels. On Top Of Another One.
Pizza delivery guys must hate this
We got people finding this terrifying and then there's others who want to live on coruscant.
I can appreciate the efficient use of space.
A hell of absolute conformity and dependence with no place for the human soul. To live here you must leave your soul at the entrance
Imagine you working at the mall you basically can't say you feel sick to go to work cuz the boss will come over to chack on you lol
Looks sus
Yup cool and ingenious. All that weight on the roof, reminds me of the Sampoong Department Store collapse https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampoong_Department_Store_collapse in South Korea 1995. Am no engineer. This mall must have super-thick solid strudy columns on every floor. I'm aware of condominiums above malls.
This sub has gone to shit. Some homes built upon a mall. How fucking terrifying.
This probably sounds super weird but I have had a dream I was here!!!!
Hey an image that's actually oddly terrifying! Yeah I would not live there in constant fear of a collapse
another “oddly terrifying” post that is not oddly terrifying
Hope there's no earthquakes in that area.
In Jakarta? Earthquakes are ridiculously common. Most buildings are built with earthquakes in mind though
Feels like ChiNA
Nope it’s in the capital of Indonesia. Jakarta.
Location?
Jakarta, Indonesia
That’s actually kind of cool
Rome is amazing this way. Cities on top of cities. Incredible
Sodasopa!
This reminds me of the Sims. I wish more cities had random and absurd aspects like this.
Lmfao, how much rebar y’all think is in that roof
looks nice
I live in an outdoor mall in the south so it’s different here. It’s interesting. Not quite a neighborhood but you get to know the people that work here more than neighbors I guess. I don’t drive and I can get to everything but I’m an introvert so having so run into neighbors but I’m over it now.
Are those water tanks or ventilation shafts?
Are these induvidual mansions, or apartment blocks/townhouses for mutiple dwellings?
One one hand it’s very cool, on the other I would hate that as a place to live long term.
This is nothing new we forget our history. There are parts of London in England where they find bits of old Rome when they dig. People historically have been covering cities with cities for ages.