Buildering
Encyclopedia
Bouldering
Bouldering is a style of rock climbing undertaken without a rope and normally limited to very short climbs over a crash pad so that a fall will not result in serious injury. It is typically practiced on large natural boulders or artificial boulders in gyms and outdoor urban areas...
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If done without ropes or protection far off the ground, buildering may be dangerous. It is often practised outside legal bounds, and is thus mostly undertaken at night-time.
Night climbing is a particular branch of buildering which has been practised for many years in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, England, and elsewhere. Night climbing, as distinct from buildering, is performed mainly by undergraduates under cover of darkness. The term "night climbing" has replaced the older term "roof climbing".
Adepts of buildering who are seen climbing on buildings without authorization are regularly met by police forces upon completing their exploit. Spectacular acts of buildering, such as free soloing skyscrapers, are usually accomplished by lone, experienced climbers, sometimes attracting large crowds of passers-by and media attention. These remain relatively rare.
Buildering can also take a form more akin to bouldering, which tends towards ascending or traversing shorter sections of buildings and structures. While still generally frowned upon by property owners, some, such as the University of Colorado at Boulder and Tufts University, turn a blind eye towards the practice in many locations.
Although often done as a solo sport, buildering has also become a popular group activity. As in more traditional rock climbing, routes are established and graded for difficulty.
History
In 1895, the great alpinist Geoffrey Winthrop YoungGeoffrey Winthrop Young
Geoffrey Winthrop Young D.Litt. was a British climber, poet and educator, and author of several notable books on mountaineering.-Mountaineering:...
, started to climb the roofs of Cambridge University, England. Students had been scrambling up the university architecture for years , but Young was the first to document this activity. He wrote and published a buildering guide to Trinity College . Then in 1905, while a master at Eton College, Young produced another small volume on buildering, spoofing mountaineering .
In 1905, Harry H. Gardiner began buildering. He successfully climbed over 700 buildings in Europe and North America, usually wearing ordinary street clothes and using no special equipment.
In 1910, George Polley started his climbing career when the owner of a clothing store promised him a suit if he would climb to the roof of the building. He succeeded, and went on to climb over 2,000 buildings.
During the years from 1915 to 1920, buildering in New York City reached its peak. Before 1915, there were few skyscrapers in New York City, and after 1920, the city authorities had legislated to outlaw buildering. During this golden era, a number of daredevils climbed the tall buildings, but several of them fell to their deaths in the attempt.
In 1921, a group of undergraduates from St John's College, Cambridge, published a buildering guide to that college .
In 1930, John Hurst wrote the second edition of Geoffrey Winthrop Young's buildering guide to Trinity .
In 1937, a comprehensive and light-hearted account of Cambridge night climbing (undergraduate buildering) appeared in popular print , written by Noël Howard Symington, under the pseudonym "Whipplesnaith".
In 1947, John Ciampa scaled the exterior of the Astor Hotel in New York City.
In 1960, Richard Williams wrote the third edition of the Trinity buildering guide . Night climbing remained popular in Cambridge during these post-war years. In 1970, a book entitled "Night Climbing in Cambridge" was published under the pseudonym "Hederatus" . Buildering also featured prominently in a book by F A Reeve, published in 1977 .
In 1977, George Willig climbed the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
In the 1980s, Dan Goodman scaled many of the world's tallest buildings.
In the 1990s and the following decade, Alain Robert became the world's most famous builderer by free soloing high buildings all over the globe.
In 2007, buildering in Cambridge was featured in a detective novel by Jill Paton Walsh .
Between 2007 and 2011, several books on night climbing were published by Oleander Press, of Cambridge. In 2007, they reprinted the Whipplesnaith book . In 2009, they reprinted Geoffrey Winthrop Young's first edition of the Trinity Guide , and the St John's Guide . In 2010, they reprinted John Hurst's second edition of the Trinity Guide , as well as Young's book "Wall and Roof Climbing" . In 2011, they published an omnibus edition of the three Trinity guides , including an introduction by Richard Williams which reviewed the history of night climbing in Cambridge from the 18th century to the present day. This introduction removed the cloak of anonymity that had previously protected the identities of the first nocturnal explorers.
The identification of the first recreational or professional builderer remains an open question, but at Cambridge, Geoffrey Winthrop Young is generally regarded as the original pioneer.
Famous builderers
Alain RobertAlain Robert
Alain Robert , is a French rock and urban climber, from Digoin, Saône-et-Loire, Bourgogne, France...
has achieved world-wide renown and is widely regarded as the greatest of all builderers. In 2011, he climbed the world's tallest building, the 825-meter Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
. On that occasion, he used a harness in accordance with safety procedure, but most of his climbs have been free soloing. Other buildings that Robert has climbed include the Empire State Building
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, the Golden Gate Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to...
in San Francisco, the Sears Tower
Sears Tower
Sears' optimistic growth projections were not met. Competition from its traditional rivals continued, with new competition by retailing giants such as Kmart, Kohl's, and Wal-Mart. The fortunes of Sears & Roebuck declined in the 1970s as the company lost market share; its management grew more...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, the Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, Taipei 101
Taipei 101
Taipei 101 , formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a landmark skyscraper located in Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan. The building ranked officially as the world's tallest from 2004 until the opening of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010...
in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, and each of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
, Malaysia. He has also climbed a number of famous landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower and the Montparnasse Tower in France, and the Sydney Opera House in Australia. Robert has been arrested at the top of many of the major buildings he has climbed. He was born in France in 1962 as Robert Alain Phillipe, and is popularly known as "the French Spider-Man" and the “Human Spider”.
In the 1980s, Dan Goodwin
Dan Goodwin
American Dan Goodwin is a building, rock, and sports climber, as well as a stage-four cancer survivor, originally from Kennebunkport, Maine, United States, and living as of 2010 in Lake Tahoe, California.-Building climber:...
, aka SpiderDan, aka Skyscraperman, in advocacy for high-rise firefighting and rescue, scaled many of the world's tallest buildings and structures including the Sears Tower
Sears Tower
Sears' optimistic growth projections were not met. Competition from its traditional rivals continued, with new competition by retailing giants such as Kmart, Kohl's, and Wal-Mart. The fortunes of Sears & Roebuck declined in the 1970s as the company lost market share; its management grew more...
, the John Hancock Center
John Hancock Center
John Hancock Center at 875 North Michigan Avenue in the Streeterville area of Chicago, Illinois, is a 100-story, 1,127-foot tall skyscraper, constructed under the supervision of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, with chief designer Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Khan...
, the North Tower of the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
, the Parque Central Complex
Parque Central Complex
The Parque Central Complex is a housing, commercial and cultural development, implemented by Centro Simón Bolívar and located in the urbanization of the county in the center of the city of Caracas, Venezuela adjacent to Paseo Vargas....
in Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
, Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
, and the CN Tower
CN Tower
The CN Tower is a communications and observation tower in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Standing tall, it was completed in 1976, becoming the world's tallest free-standing structure and world's tallest tower at the time. It held both records for 34 years until the completion of the Burj...
in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. In 2010, Goodwin, now a stage four cancer survivor, scaled San Francisco, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
's sixty-storey Millennium Tower
Millennium Tower
Millennium Tower may refer to:* Millennium Tower , Nigeria* Millennium Tower , Netherlands* Millennium Tower , Serbia* Millennium Tower , Slovakia* Millennium Tower , United Arab Emirates...
to call attention to the fire department's inability to conduct rescue operations in the upper floors of skyscrapers.
At least six builderers became known as "The Human Fly", all from the United States, as follows:
- George WilligGeorge WilligGeorge Willig is a mountain-climber from Queens, New York, United States, who climbed the South Tower of the World Trade Center on 26 May 1977, about 2½ years after tightrope walker Phillippe Petit walked between the tops of the two towers...
, who climbed the South Tower of the World Trade Center in 1977. Like Alain Robert, he was also known as "Spider-Man", after the comic hero who was first published by Marvel in 1962.
- John Ciampa, who climbed between 1942 and 1952. He was a stuntman and entertainer, and was also known as the "Flying Phantom" and the "Brooklyn Tarzan".
- James A Dearing, who scaled the Rutherford County Courthouse in 1923, but fell to his death after completing the climb. His stage name was Roy Royce.
- Harry F Young, who was hired in 1923 to climb the Hotel Martinique in New York City, to promote the silent movie "Safety Last". He lost his grip on the ascent, and fell nine stories to his death.
- George PolleyGeorge PolleyGeorge Gibson Polley was an American pioneer of buildering, or climbing the walls of tall buildings, earning him the nickname "the human fly"....
, who climbed between 1910 and 1920. He died at the age of 29 from a brain tumour.
- Harry GardinerHarry GardinerHarry H. Gardiner , better known as the Human Fly, was an American man famous for climbing buildings. He began climbing in 1905, and successfully climbed over 700 buildings in Europe and North America, usually wearing ordinary street clothes and used no special equipment.- Climbs :Some of the...
, who climbed over 700 buildings in the United States and Europe between 1905 and 1918, usually wearing street clothes and tennis shoes, with no climbing equipment.
In the 1930s, Whipplesnaith (Noël Symington) climbed many buildings in Cambridge, England.
In 1895, Geoffrey Winthrop Young pioneered the sport of night climbing in Cambridge, England.
See also
- Alain RobertAlain RobertAlain Robert , is a French rock and urban climber, from Digoin, Saône-et-Loire, Bourgogne, France...
- BASE jumpingBASE jumpingBASE jumping, also sometimes written as B.A.S.E jumping, is an activity that employs an initially packed parachute to jump from fixed objects...
- Cambridge night climbing history
- Craning
- Doorways in the SandDoorways in the SandDoorways in the Sand is a Nebula- and Hugo-nominated science fiction novel with mystery and comic elements by Roger Zelazny. It was originally published in serial form in the magazine Analog Science Fiction and Science Fact; the hardcover edition was first published in 1976 and the paperback in...
- ParkourParkourParkour is a method of movement focused on moving around obstacles with speed and efficiency. Originally developed in France, the main purpose of the discipline is to teach participants how to move through their environment by vaulting, rolling, running, climbing and jumping...
- Safety Last!Safety Last!Safety Last! is a 1923 romantic comedy silent film starring Harold Lloyd. It includes one of the most famous images from the silent film era: Lloyd clutching the hands of a large clock as he dangles from the outside of a skyscraper above moving traffic. The film was highly successful and critically...
- The Night Climbers of CambridgeThe Night Climbers of CambridgeThe Night Climbers of Cambridge is a book written under the pseudonym "Whipplesnaith" about nocturnal climbing on the colleges and town buildings of Cambridge, England, in the 1930s....
External links
- Alain Robert Official website
- BBC announces Ascent of the Arche de la Defence
- Buildering.net
- FreakClimbing Buildering Gallery
Locations
- Cambridge University, England
- Denmark
- Germany
- Rotterdam, Netherlands videos
- Milan, Italy Street Boulder Contest
- Oxford University, England
- Vancouver, Canada 5th Annual UBC Buildering Contest
- University of California, Berkeley