Terrific BLDGBLOG essay by Geoff Manaugh on the unorthodox navigation of Nakatomi Plaza in Die Hard:

The majority of that film’s interest, I’d suggest, comes precisely through its depiction of architectural space: John McClane, a New York cop on his Christmas vacation, moves through a Los Angeles high-rise in basically every conceivable way but passing through its doors and hallways.

Over the course of the film, McClane blows up whole sections of the building; he stops elevators between floors; and he otherwise explores the internal spaces of Nakatomi Plaza in acts of virtuoso navigation that were neither imagined nor physically planned for by the architects.

Includes some scary stuff about the Israeli Defense Forces using the same techniques IRL.

(via @tcarmody)