Looking out over the Yale School of the Medicine
Now that I spend most my time in the US, I obviously had to start exploring there, right? Like any other university, Yale has an extensive collection of roofs, but what it is more unique is the multiple extensive tunnel systems, designed to transport high-pressure steam from the Sterling Power Plant (pictured, middle-right), and the Central Power Plant, that is, unsurprisingly, on the main campus, rather than the medical school campus. Steam tunnels are actually quite common in American universities (producing your own electricity and transporting excess steam to heat buildings is far far more efficient than buying electricity), but Yale's age means the tunnels are walkable and accessible to staff and maintenance, and so, also accessible to someone with enough interest.
The overwhelming amount of the network looks somewhat similar to this. It's a little boring, I know, and to be entirely honest, you would expect more interesting tidbits of history, right? Apparently not. There is extensive archive reporting on the fact that these were designated fallout shelters during the Cold War, complete with food, water and medical supplies (I'm not sure how they survived the heat, though), but I could not find even a trace of this. My suspicion is that the excess space that used to be full of water, food and the like is now used for storage, as there is a fair amount of open space for records, old equipment and the like within the system.
I really liked the old electric switches, which do still seem to be in use. You can also see my point on the storage - it's fair to imagine that this probably was used as a potential bunker in the Cold War, or at least used to store supplies for the people who would hypothetically line the tunnels. The tunnels do vary in age, and the newer ones (such as the first photo of these) are far more open than the older ones, which are much more of a squeeze. Given the immense heat in these tunnels, it's not a great experience - though not as bad as being caught, which I was (oops).
I honestly don't have too much to add here, so I hope you enjoyed the read :)
