Target: the Canadian Broadcasting Centre

you're right, it is quite confusing in there, and the place is a lot larger than it seems from the outside. however, with a trustee employee as a guide, there are tons of really neat things (like studio space) to discover in the building. worth a trip.

The props department in the basement is especially fun to explore!

I am sure you will find your way inside with the next Google Map upgrade

I have an engineer friend who was on-site at the CBC do to some work involoving their air conditioning systems and he said the ducts & passageways for a/c and whatnot are so big you could drive a golf cart through them.

Perhaps the terrorists had also planned a similar 10-minute alotment.

I was in the CBC building this past Saturday to meet with a pal who was in the midst of a shoot. I met a PA in the lobby who escorted me up to the 10th floor, chatted with my friend briefly and was instructed to "just take the elevator back down to the lobby" as he had to get back to work asap. Great idea, problem was, none of the elevators I found were running on the weekend (without a key I presume).
Left with little choice, I hiked down ten flights of stairs to find an exit door marked "DO NOT OPEN EXCEPT IN CASE OF EMERGENCY - ALARM WILL SOUND".
Not wanting to push my luck, I hiked back up two floors (entry to the lobby level seemed non-existent) before repeating this folly on two more staircases.
I finally found a functioning elevator that took me down to the first floor, but found myself still encased within the innards of CBC, as the door to the external (lobby) area proved locked with the same dire warning.
Frustrated, I said "fuck it" and tryed to open the door anyway. It remained locked - all I succeeded in doing was setting off the aforementioned alarm.
I was trapped in a 20 metre corridor with a elevator that would only go up, several locked doors and a glass door peering out to the lobby area that was now emitted a violently loud alarm.
I wouldn't go so far as to say panic set in, it was more like frustration at my complete and total failure to simply leave a building. I had visions of being detained by CBC security and wondered if their uniforms have Canadian content requirements.
I wondered what would happen in the case of a real emergency - smoke filling the building, panic, people running, only to find themselves finally able to escape, except that the glass door to freedom is really little more than an elaborate (and loud) door bell for security.
One or two minutes after setting off the alarm the door magically opened, some benevolent security officer in a far off room deemed me fit for release and I was free, only to discover what would be the first of two parking tickets that day.