The Town That Lives Inside One Building

On a cold, grey bay along the Alaskan coastline stands a town called Whittier, where almost the entire population lives under one roof, quite literally, packed inside the very same towering building. It is, without much exaggeration, a whole community folded into a single address.

Ved en kold, grå bugt langs Alaskas kyst ligger en by ved navn Whittier, hvor næsten hele befolkningen bor under samme tag, helt bogstaveligt, stuvet sammen inde i den samme høje bygning. Det er, uden de store overdrivelser, et helt samfund foldet sammen til én eneste adresse.

That building rises fourteen storeys and was originally constructed for the army, decades ago, long before it became a town in its own right. It now houses flats, a shop, a post office, a police station, a small clinic, and even a church, so that the mayor, the local doctor, and whoever happens to sell you milk all live stacked one above another. Long internal corridors connect every floor, which is fortunate, because Whittier receives a truly formidable amount of snow each winter, and residents can go about most of daily life without ever pulling on a coat. Even the children reach school through a tunnel dug beneath the ground.

Bygningen rejser sig fjorten etager i vejret og blev oprindeligt opført til hæren for årtier siden, længe før den blev en by i sin egen ret. Den huser nu lejligheder, en butik, et posthus, en politistation, en lille klinik og endda en kirke, så borgmesteren, den lokale læge og den, der sælger dig mælk, alle bor stablet oven på hinanden. Lange indendørs gange forbinder alle etager, hvilket er heldigt, for Whittier får en virkelig voldsom mængde sne hver vinter, og beboerne kan klare det meste af hverdagen uden nogensinde at tage en frakke på. Selv børnene kommer i skole gennem en tunnel gravet under jorden.

Getting into the town at all is stranger still. Cars enter through a single narrow tunnel blasted through the mountainside, a tunnel shared with the railway, which means everybody must take turns. At night the tunnel closes altogether, and nothing moves in or out until morning. The town simply stays where it is, warm and lit against the dark, one tall building standing alone in the snow, ringed by mountains on every side.

At komme ind i byen overhovedet er endnu mærkeligere. Biler kører ind gennem en enkelt smal tunnel sprængt gennem bjergsiden, en tunnel der deles med jernbanen, hvilket betyder, at alle må vente på tur. Om natten lukker tunnelen helt, og intet bevæger sig ind eller ud før om morgenen. Byen bliver simpelthen, hvor den er, varm og oplyst mod mørket, én høj bygning der står alene i sneen, omringet af bjerge på alle sider.