
The Accidental Room - garycomtois
https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-accidental-room/
======
iambateman
The magic of 99pi is humanization.

If I found out people were living in an empty part of the mall in any other
context, my response would be: “ehh weird.”

But 99pi presents the story and by the end they seem like heroes sticking it
to the man.

------
mips_avatar
I feel like 99pi is becoming more like This American Life. They’re both great
radio programs but 99pi used to produce content that shon a light on an
interesting but lesser noticed aspect of our daily lives. Like this episode
could have been a this American life episode. It was mostly just an anecdotal
experience from a unique person. Maybe focusing a little on property
developers. Maybe it’s true that Roman Mars is just too talented to stay in
his niche, but I’d be pretty disappointed if he just became budget Ira Glass.

------
csours
Strongly reminds me of Mrs Basil E Frankenweiler

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_the_Mixed-
Up_Files_of_Mrs...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_the_Mixed-
Up_Files_of_Mrs._Basil_E._Frankweiler)

------
RyJones
this is great. In a previous life I would bid construction jobs, and it was
noticeable how much dead space you would end up with in say, a high school or
a prison.

Nothing like this, though.

~~~
jessaustin
Now that everyone is worried about energy efficiency ("net zero" etc.) it
seems like architectural malpractice to create large conditioned but unused
volumes.

~~~
derefr
Why? Given that nobody’s in it heating it up (in any other case), wouldn’t it
mostly serve as a ballast of cold air—a bit like having a larger freezer to
contain the same amount of food? I’d think it’d _increase_ the energy
efficiency of dealing with a new hot body entering the space, since there’s so
much more already-cold air to spread the heat into.

~~~
jessaustin
(In Providence they're not only concerned about AC.) More to the point, most
of these volumes would extend all the way to the roof, which is the primary
heat transfer boundary in a large squat building like this. It's unlikely that
these areas see the draft-proofing that inhabited areas do. We now know that
uncontrolled movement of air through boundaries is the largest source of HVAC
inefficiency. Has a building inspector ever actually entered these areas?
Without energy input, any enclosed volume will tend to converge to the outdoor
temperature. Human comfort will require that energy input.

------
ilikepi
I believe the same folks were also responsible for a secret art installation
that included a bunch of hanging mannequins inside a nearby drainage tunnel. I
remember hearing about it around the same time as the discovery of the mall
apartment. I've only been able to find a couple[0][1] references for it
though.

[0]:
[http://www.insanebunkers.com/index.php?topic=1244.0](http://www.insanebunkers.com/index.php?topic=1244.0)

[1]: [https://youtu.be/LKdbYh5uoJA](https://youtu.be/LKdbYh5uoJA)

------
kqr2
If they had occupied the room peacefully for 10 years, I wonder if they would
have squatter's rights:

[http://www.landlordstation.com/blog/what-are-squatters-
right...](http://www.landlordstation.com/blog/what-are-squatters-rights-in-
rhode-island/)

 _If squatters are using a property consistently without the permission of the
owner for a minimum of 10 years, then a claim can be filed to take over title_
of the land that is being used. _

~~~
pavel_lishin
I think squatters typically require conspicuous occupancy, not a hidden one.
Otherwise someone could secretly build a shed in a secluded corner of
someone's property, and claim rights to it.

------
grenoire
Audacity is I think the best word to describe what they've done, but
definitely in a good way!

