Living

The following is a combination of fiction and computer generated imagery, sent back through time by a supercomputer. You’ve been warned.

Christmas morning had passed and we were an hour away from the Day’s end. All the presents had been unwrapped and the paper strewn about the living room. All was quiet, save for we three intrepid explorers: the best present was yet to come.

As we ascended the first of 35 flights of stairs, my heart is pounding out of my chest. The smallest of noises had my cohorts and I stopping dead in our tracks and listening for what could be signs of our impending doom: someone trying to find us. We are uhhh, unauthorized visitors. The wind tore at the fabric wrapping the building and at our hands, there was no staying warm. We could hear the drone of equipment above us, not knowing if there was someone supervising it. We didn’t care, the adrenaline coursing through our veins reminding us that stealth and personal safety were just as important as phenomenal photography. “Life before limb” I thought, except Life in this case was telling my fear to sit down and be quiet — now is not the time.

We passed through the mostly-complete annuls of the building, still missing the earmarks of a corporate megastructure: white drywall, industrial carpet, drop ceilings and cube-farm partitions. The architect had thoughtfully placed the toilets close to our ascent stairs, but they weren’t ready yet.

About halfway up the 35 (thirty five!) flights of stairs, my fellow photographers demanded a cigarette break. Being without a tripod I stopped for a moment and steadied my camera, but did not pollute my lungs with smoke that would only make the run to the top harder.

Our fears subsided when we arrived at the first “dark” floor: we would be shrouded in bitter-cold darkness from here to the top. This foor and all floors above it were “dark”, work lights powered by a temporary electrical system that the builders use during construction had not yet been installed.

The drone we’d been hearing was coming from the propane fired heaters placed to accelerate the curing of the newly poured concrete floors. We took another quick break to thaw our hands and popped off a few frames before proceeding upward, thankful that it had rained the night before and that they’d left the heaters running for us.

We were nearing the top – the concrete had not been poured yet on the steel stair frames or, for that matter, the rest of the floor. We stopped for a moment and discussed further ascent. Being without my tripod, I steadied my camera on the steel frame of the stairs and snapped a picture of the iconic Carew Tower. We decided since the construction guys had been using the stairs, we could too. We proceeded upward.

We topped out, there were no more stairs from here – only ladders. We decided with the 30+ MPH wind gusts that leaving the ladders alone would probably be best. We fanned out across the floor, each of us mindful of the fact that the only thing between us and *splat* some 30-odd floors below were two 1/2″ wire ropes placed around the perimeter. I approached the edge on my hands and knees and lined up a shot of Sycamore Street with guest appearance by the Proctor & Gamble towers.

From my perch high atop the city I began to relax and wonder about the folks below us. None of them would ever see their world from my current viewpoint. Everything was still on the Covington waterfront, and the Reds would play ball, just not in the dark.

We were in the dark, and had been for over an hour. Nobody was coming for us. We couldn’t be see even if you were trying… probably. Now I wave hello to my friends at 3z.net on the 3rd floor of the building to the left of the south tower of the Roebling Bridge.

We continued to roam the open expanses of concrete floor. To our west the iconic Carew Tower and PNC Tower dwarf the U.S. Bank building in Fountain Square — from up here, it looks small.

To our east is my favorite apartment ever in the Phelps Building as well as the headquarters of Western & Southern, both looking out onto Lytle Park.

Metaphotography over Lytle Place and the US 50/I-471/I-71 interchange occurs as I catch an urbex photographer in the act.

Immediately fronting the tower is Fort Washington Way, the meeting of I-71 and I-75 as well as the busiest interstate junction in Cincinnati.

Having satisfied our collective photographic curiosities, we began our descent. It was much more relaxed going down than going up, not to mention a whole hell of a lot easier. We hit the bottom and split like a log, heading back to my apartment in The Phelps and finally up on to the roof. We cracked open a few cold drinks and toasted to the success of our conquest. The Square was the best Christmas present ever.

Nota Bene: you can click these and see the full resolution versions on My Flickr, or view a slideshow of all 23 photos.

Or view the slideshow here:

And now that “the heat” is off, check out Queen Discovery’s version: Porkopolis Square and LocalArch’s version: Porkoplis Square of the night’s exploits. Thanks for the company, dudes.