Step 0 Enter:
Step 1 Strip:
Step 2 Wash:
Step 3 Cover:
Step 4 Exit:
A feature of this space-efficient hexagonal packing is that people never
need to turn at angles tighter than 120 degrees, so throughput is very high.
Also, the 120 degree angles where walls meet facilitates the installation
of high security rotogate turnstiles like those used in
unguarded automated subway exits. This ensures that no person can
flee from the facility without passing through in the proper direction.
Moreover, the hexagonal packing of the six rooms creates lost space in
the center. This lost space is actually put to good use as a central triage
observation room. The walls of this central room are made entirely
of smoked lexan so that guards in the room can have a clear view of
activities taking place in the six rooms around the outside, but,
for reasons of national security, persons in the six rooms cannot see
into the central guard tower. During construction, this central room
being built first, should have a hexagonal-shaped counter or shelf
running all the way around the inside. This shelf is for the six
high resolution video cameras that allow the guards to be located remotely,
and remotely operate the facility. The room also houses computers to
buffer the video for archival, for quality control and training purposes,
and to ensure that safety policy and procedures are complied with:
During construction a hexagonal countertop is built into the
central triage/observation room.
The walls of the hexagonal triage/observation room are made
entirely of darkly smoked bulletproof glass or smoked lexan
(polycarbonate).
For more details on why this facility was built, see the final chapter in Cyborg: Digital Destiny and Human Possibility in the Age of the Wearable Computer