Monday, November 26, 2018

Will Your Panic Room Defend Against Both Poison Gas and Radiation?

Questions Americans want answered.
From Dwell, August 22, 2015:

Inside the Modern Safe Room: How Homeowners Today Are Fortifying Their Houses Against Burglars, Terrorists, and Hurricanes
If a family’s home is their castle, as the saying goes, some homeowners have begun to take that sentiment quite literally. Step into the heavily fortified world of safe rooms—otherwise known as panic rooms—with three designers working at the outer limits of architectural craft. 
Tom Gaffney won’t tell me where he is. We’re talking on the phone and I know he’s on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, but he won’t give away his exact location. Gaffney is on-site installing a safe room—something most of us know as a "panic room"—but revealing the address, even the street, would defeat half the purpose of fortifying a home in the first place. After all, if someone knows you have a panic room, they know there’s something you’re trying to hide or protect.
Gaffney runs a private security design firm called Gaffco Ballistics, based out of a small town in central Vermont. Hailing originally from County Sligo, Ireland, Gaffney still speaks with a rolling brogue, quickly and concisely. He is not in the business to waste time. Gaffney explained to me that his entry into the field came back in 1986. At the time, he was doing work fortifying—or "hardening"—check-cashing facilities in some of New York City’s most violent neighborhoods. For the most part, this meant nothing more than installing bullet-resistant glass, but it soon graduated to building self-enclosed, inaccessible safe rooms inside the businesses. 
https://images.dwell.com/photos-6063391372700811264/6133571300666114048-large/home-security-illustration-of-panic-rooms.jpg
 Where alarms and bulletproof glass fail, steel-reinforced doors disguised as custom woodwork use brute strength to stop even the most determined burglar. Add high-security locks and drill-resistant concrete, and you have a high bar of protection. Roofs are particularly vulnerable, as they are often the least-fortified part of a residential structure. Gaffco Ballistics will install saw- and bullet-resistant Kevlar plates to thwart potential attackers.
The safe room, of course, is by no means a modern invention—as University of Cambridge professor of classics Jerry Toner pointed out to me in an interview about burglary in the ancient world—you can see archaeological evidence of safe rooms even in the volcanic ruins of ancient Pompeii. Indeed, urban fortification is all but synonymous with Western history. From castles on hills to concrete bunkers buried six feet beneath the back garden, protective architecture is not an anomaly; it is the rule. Perhaps precisely because of this, the development of contemporary panic rooms is a fascinating tale of design innovation, wealth, occasional paranoia, and brutal necessity. It is a story of crime, self-protection, and architectural extremes—and it’s almost certainly not one you’ve heard before. The first rule of having a panic room is not to talk about having a panic room....
...MORE 

And from Curbed, August 31, 2016:

For $17.5M, this WTF-worthy Atlanta home is billed as ‘world’s safest’
The listing would provide the address, but then it would have to kill you
Atlanta’s most paranoid high-rollers and sheiks have probably caught wind of this new $17.5-million listing, which is alternately billed as a "modern fortress," "presidential compound," and "one of the world’s safest homes."
With eight bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, and 36,000 square feet, this North Atlanta Fort Knox is chockfull of Scarface-grade security and extravagance befitting Bruce Wayne.
The weirdly secretive listing photos show glimpses of architectural flourishes like archways and Ionic columns, doors with innumerable locks, geese, art gallery patrons, bowling balls, a shooting range, and what looks like still shots from the movie Predator. WTF moments abound.
Technically speaking, this place is SAFE — a Strategically Armored and Fortified Environment, designed by global security expert Al Corbi, per the listing. Hardly believable features include a secret 30-car vault, full water and power supplies, and three kitchens that include catering....MORE
Just don't end up like Edmond Safra.

That large cupola appearing object on the roof is, I believe, the panic room which would make me a bit nervous in light of Edmond Safra's death in his panic room:

A terrible tragedy: Mr Safra succumbed to smoke in the building's highly reinforced panic room. The room was meant to protect him, but it ended up being his tomb
Mr. Safra's Belle Epoque Monaco Penthouse was flipped by the Candy Bros. for an amount variously reported as $305-$323 Million.

From our possibly relevant post "Worst-Case Wednesday: How to Jump From Rooftop to Rooftop To Make Your Escape".

Also from 2016:
August
"The Latest High-End Real Estate Amenity? The Luxury Safe Room" 
So much for "Would you like to see mein Klimt?" as the hot pickup line.*

October
"Panic, Anxiety Spark Rush to Build Luxury Bunkers for L.A.'s Superrich"

And  Previously:
What to Get the Survivalist Who Has Everything?
You probably have to deal with this question every year....
[who on earth do you think your readership is? -ed]
Zeitgeist: Survivalist Reality Show Winner to Get Own Bunker (as survival condos sell out)
Surviving in Your Doomsday Bunker with Portable Nuclear Power to Spare
Carbon: "Piaget Emperador Temple Diamonds Watch - $3.5 Million"
If you have a more ominous bent, trade three of your new watches for:
$10 Million Doomsday Bunker to Survive the Apocalypse

"The Latest High-End Real Estate Amenity? The Luxury Safe Room"
The Economist: "When civilisation collapses, will you be ready?"
"The Paranoid World of London's Super-rich: DNA-laced Security Mist and Superyacht Getaway Submarines"
"Mace and Vomit: The Latest in Anti-Pirate Tech"
"A New Investment Strategy: Preparing for End Times"

This is not new.
Here at Climateer world headquarters

Associated Press
HT on the pic: an old MarketBeat post.

we have been  on the doom-beat for years although we don't link to Rosenberg or Roubini very much.

"The Paranoid World of London's Super-rich: DNA-laced Security Mist and Superyacht Getaway Submarines"

Interestingly, considering this article's topic, the owner of the LES is a Russian former oligarch, although his fortune has been declining since he got into the newspaper biz and who may not even be a billionaire any more.
Seriously.

From the London Evening Standard:

DNA-laced security mist, chemical, biological and nuclear-proof panic rooms and superyacht getaway subs. The paranoid world of London’s super-rich rivals anything you see in Spectre, as John Arlidge reports