Whittier: The Single-Tower Town
Built in 1953 as a Cold War military facility, the Begich Towers Consolidated in Whittier, Alaska, now contains apartments, a police station, a church, and a grocery store. Residents can access everything via underground tunnels, protecting them from winter winds reaching 60 miles per hour and 250 inches of annual snowfall.
Chapter 1
Life inside a single building and deep underground
Chapter 2
The strange towns split by international borders
Chapter 3
Cities built for the departed and the spiritual
Chapter 4
Cities with the world's most extreme rules
Ch 1 · Life inside a single building and deep underground
schopenhauer Whittier, Alaska
We take the elevator down to get our bread and walk through tunnels while the winter snow is spread
schopenhauer This Spanish town features homes and streets built directly beneath massive overhanging basalt cliffs, using the natural rock as roofs and walls.
Fun Fact
Coober Pedy golf: The town of Coober Pedy, Australia, has a grassless, sand-and-oil golf course where players carry a small piece of turf to tee off and play mostly at night with glowing balls.
schopenhauer Residents of Coober Pedy, Australia, live in underground dugout homes to escape scorching summer temperatures that routinely surpass 113 degrees Fahrenheit.
Glossary
dugout (noun)
A shelter that is dug into the ground or excavated from a hillside. In Coober Pedy, Australia, residents live in these dugouts to escape the extreme desert heat.
A shelter that is dug into the ground or excavated from a hillside. In Coober Pedy, Australia, residents live in these dugouts to escape the extreme desert heat.
BETA
schopenhauer Arrange these unique spaces to discover how communities thrive inside one building or deep underground.
schopenhauer Begich Towers contains almost the entire community of Whittier, Alaska.
Quiz
Why did the residents of Coober Pedy, Australia, choose to build their town underground?
Quiz
In Coober Pedy, what valuable mineral is mined, which originally brought settlers to the area in 1915?
schopenhauer Overhanging cliffs shelter the Andalusian town of Setenil de las Bodegas.
Quiz
How do residents of Whittier, Alaska, reach their local school during harsh winter blizzards?
Quiz
What proportion of Whittier, Alaska's residents live inside the 14-story Begich Towers?
Quiz
In which Spanish town do people live directly under giant, overhanging river cliffs?
Quiz
Which country is home to Setenil de las Bodegas, the town famous for its cliff-dwelling architecture?