STORY BY KHURRAM KHALID & ADITH NATARAJAN
Maybe we’ll never get a chance to explore a place as magical and mysterious as Hogwarts, the fictional school in Harry Potter. But there is hope, and it’s something very few students at Sheridan know about: Sheridan’s Trafalgar Campus has tunnels.
Ever been to the facilities section at Trafalgar? If you aren’t an Architectural Technology or Interior Design major, chances are most students have never been near the area.
“Those are service tunnels,” said Jaspreet Singh, a project coordinator for Sheridan’s Facilities department. “They lead to other sections, or ‘wings’ of the building.”
The tunnels were constructed around the same time that the original north-and-south buildings were being made, beginning construction in 1967 and finishing up around 1974.
“What’s interesting about the tunnels is that it gives you a perspective of the robustness, and the strength of the structure,” said Roger Bankuti, a worker for Building Operations and Maintenance. “You’re at the bottom of a large structure, everything’s above you, and there’s a lot of weight there.”
Without worrying about costs, and focusing on safety first, the tunnels were all constructed with concrete.
“I really like the architecture of the tunnel,” said Singh. “The way it was designed, the way it was brought to life. It was a great vision to see in person.”
But if you were looking forward to checking these tunnels out, we’ve got some bad news for you. Due to health and safety concerns, the tunnels have been closed from public view – only those with authorized access are allowed.
“The way it was designed, the way it was brought to life, it was a great vision to see in person.” – Jaspreet Singh
“They’re blocked out from general public access because of the health and safety requirement,” said Bankuti. “There is moving equipment down there, hot surfaces, and various potential hazards that we don’t want anybody from the general population of the college accessing – because they’re service related. They’re not intended to be used by the public.”
Despite having our hopes to explore an underground tunnel right below us crushed, at least we are certain that the safety of Sheridan students is not to be taken for granted.
“It serves a really good purpose when it comes to cutting off all the dangerous stuff from the public,” said Singh. “Health-and-safety wise, it’s really great.”