One of London’s biggest newspapers, The Guardian, recently reviewed The Night Climbers of Cambridge, a reprint of the classic 1897 Cambridge buildering guidebok: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2009/may/21/urban-climbing-193… :

“I recently heard a group of urban climbers (builderers?) discussing how long they had been at the sport while watching one of their friends clambering up a drainpipe. ‘Since long before that James Bond film’ was the general consensus, as was the fact that hanging off concrete was their ‘soul’. I couldn’t resist a smirk at their adolescent craving for authenticity; too embarrassingly reminiscent of my own absurd teenage pride in imagining myself to have championed trip-hop and baggy trousers before ‘it all went mainstream’.”

The author goes on to make The Night Climbers of Cambridge a validation of the youth’s claims of buildering’s weightiness. Fair enough, it’s a fantastic book and it’s ancient.

But this “adolescent craving for authenticity” statement got me thinking. This is the kind of behavior I’ve witnessed in the parkour set, and given that the referenced James Bond film is Sebatien Foucan’s scene in Casino Royale, I wonder if the author is confusing buildering with parkour? In any case I’m sure some builderers of old have been guilty of such cravings. Not I of course. Certainly not I.

I recently turned 33, and am (hopefully) beyond my trying-to-differentiate-myself-from-the-herd phase. Yet I still climb buildings. I still get sweaty palms walking through the downtown core of a new city. Topping out on a new project or rooftop is met with that same feeling of exhilaration. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that buildering is my soul, such a single-minded mentality is a luxury only a teenager can afford, but it certainly drives me in some way. It fulfills a need.

Psychoanalyze if you must, but ultimately the reason we builder, from the Cambridge climbers of the early twentieth century to today, is because it’s so damn fun. Now excuse me while I finish off my “buildering 4 life” tattoo.

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8 Responses

  1. SamJ Reply

    Hello,

    Thanks for this! I’m flattered!

    As for the confusion… I think they are climbers… Or – maybe – free jumpers who have recently broken into more vertiginous territory.. I’ve spotted them once lowering themselves off the edge of a building… and I often see them practicing in a tree near my house (hence my ability to ear-wig)… Although I get the impression that you’re right that the Parkour street furniture artists are more likely to have such kinds of conversation and co… And maybe I’m guilty of tarring you with the same brush… But since my conclusion was that you’re doing something exciting/ interesting/ soulful(?) I hope you don’t mind.

    (In my original draft I actually wrote about the other guys I see doing backflips off benches near my house and moved on to the less visible thrills of urban climbing… But all that hit the cutting room floor… thanks to the necessity of word counts and getting to the point… I also wanted to mention that the book gets a nice review on this site… but space precluded that too.)

    And I like the ‘fun’ conclusion… Definitely the sense I get from Whipplesnaith too!

  2. SamJ Reply

    Aha! I’ve just realised I’ve produced an amusing/embarrassing inconsistency in my ear-wigging claims… In my piece I had them on a drainpipe – which I did indeed see.And unless my somersaulting mind is now playing tricks, here them. But they do most often practice on a tree round the corner from mine, near a coffee stand. Where I mainly like listen in on them. Not today though, as it’s raining and they generally only like to attack the tree sans shirts. Am sure this is only of interest to me and perhaps others who know of the men who climb up things near the playhouse in Norwich… But still, thought I’d at least try to explain the inconsistency. -gets coat-

  3. ardarvin Reply

    Hey Sam,

    Really I quite enjoyed your article, well done. And yes, we both arrive at the same conclusion.

    I’m not trying to distance myself from parkour, I’ve been know to jump around a bit myself, but I am trying to distance myself from the “parkour scene” – whatever the hell that means. I think it means that playing with 13 year old boys and girls opens me up to litigation on many fronts.

    As for your tree climbing, rappelling, flipping friends, I could define what they are doing, but this is a very dangerous thing to do, and the topic of many an internet flame war. I’ll just say this, if you were to ask them what they are doing, I’m 99% sure they’d say parkour. If you asked them what buildering was, and if they’ve ever done it, I’m 70% sure they’d say it’s something they do as a part or parkour (if they are the more educated variety). I honestly don’t care about the parkour kiddies assimilation of buildering into their realm, and actually encourage it. They should climb more, and do harder stuff. I just know that for me a day out buildering feels very different than a day out doing parkour.

  5. Kiell Reply

    (argh. post above was mine but wasn’t logged in. I shall re-post and ask ard to delete the other. )

    Hi Sam,

    Can I be another to complement you on an excellent article. For me it focuses my mind on a subtle difference in the mental approach between Parkour and buildering.

    As mentioned in ard’s excellent find in our ‘Great Hollywood Climbing Moments’ thread in the forum, climbing is not the visually stunning spectacle that Parkour/Freerunning is. There are exceptions, the obvious one being the performances given by Alain Robert, but in general, climbing is slow, measured, composed and deliberate. (I was about to say ‘rehearsed’ as well, but Parkour is definitely rehearsed to the same degree, if not moreso, although many viewers overlook this and simply see the movements and flow. The rehearsal isn’t deliberately concealed, just simply forgotten in the performance, much like a play on a stage.)

    I think ‘performance’ is the key word here. It’s quite interesting to contrast the pride and grace of the climbers to something like the recent Red Bull Art of Motion event where practitioners run around after their display, encouraging the crowd’s cheers. The climbers almost concealed their endeavours, partly out of necessity, and indulging in a slightly elitist glee in their achievements. This was something they wanted to keep for themselves to keep it special, offset by an urge to tell the world to show off their abilities. This is reflected today in the arguments over definitions as practitioners strive to keep a hold over something that they are passionate about; defining it gives them a level of ownership.

    Don’t get me wrong, buildering is still a performance, but it doesn’t feature the egocentric exhibitionism of freerunning. Perhaps buildering is a little more inward, whilst freerunning remains outward.

    It’s strange as a photographer that I started with freerunning, gravitated towards a more pue version in Parkour, and now find myself more at home with buildering. The shift was not so much in terms of what I’ve been shooting (though certainly a factor) but more to do with where my own passion for movement sits most naturally.

    Anyways. This is all a bit wordy and I wish I had a bit more time to make my points a little clearer. This will have to do for now. 🙂

  6. SamJ Reply

    Thanks for these two comments! Both really interesting…

    “As for your tree climbing, rappelling, flipping friends, I could define what they are doing, but this is a very dangerous thing to do, and the topic of many an internet flame war. I’ll just say this, if you were to ask them what they are doing, I’m 99% sure they’d say parkour. If you asked them what buildering was, and if they’ve ever done it, I’m 70% sure they’d say it’s something they do as a part or parkour (if they are the more educated variety).”

    I think you’re probably right… Theirs is certainly a pretty public display. Out of interest, I may try and ask them when the sun comes out again… Will report back here if I make progress.

    And I’m most interested to learn of the subtle differences you both talk about here. Certainly the ‘purer’ form of buildering seems more inline with Whipplesnaith… Though like you, I’m guessing that the would be happy to admit (in fact he often jokes about it in the book) that showing off is part of the attraction… So long as the showing off isn’t too in your face… ‘elitist glee’ perhaps sums it up.

    Meanwhile, I didn’t have chance to mention in my blog a great story about a man at the beginning of the 20th century who did his own bit of urban climbing just around the corner from the current crew’s favourite spot… He climbed to the top of a dome on the technical institute (now an art school) and jumped off into the nearby river Wensum… in the process, jumping across a bridge… It’s detailed in Roger Deakin’s wonderful Waterlog… A book you may like if you enjoyed Whipplesnaith. I’m reading it at the moment. It has the same kind of spirit…

  7. ardarvin Reply

    Hey Kiell, welcome to the new anonymous commenting feature! I should probably inform users of such things. Anyway, in the future, if you have to fill out a CAPTCHA you aren’t logged in. Also, I can’t delete your comment without deleting everything below it. I edited it instead. Great comment(s) by the way!

    This is from the Allen Roberts interview, he’s a philosophical type who brings up some good points on buildering vs. parkour:

    “Buildering can be quite disturbing for “the normals”. That’s why I climb at night, or in such a way as to not be visible to people. I’ve gotten less concerned about this as time goes on, but for awhile I was really concerned about not scaring people. I think that is why buildering remains a solitary pursuit, since most practitioners are intent of minimizing its “spectacular” element.

    And look at parkour, which is even more spectacular. The interesting thing with parkour is that it has an element of being watched. It’s almost necessary, since if you are going to add flair to something, say doing a flip instead of a straight jump, you want somebody to see that.

    I see parkour as the lovechild of buildering and break-dancing. It’s playing in an urban environment, with the showmanship of break-dancing. That’s why parkour is practiced in groups. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but it’s not for me.”

    And thanks for the book recommendation Sam, I’ll definitely look into that. I also enjoyed reading about the Austin Seven prank, which I found through the comments on your site. A good lot of readers you have there, much more learned than the typical YouTube comment folk.

  8. Anonymous Reply

    Hey Sam,

    Great article by the way, I frequented the online version of NCoC for quite some time and was thrilled when I found out it was to be republished.

    I was intruged by your comment concerning buildering/parkour occuring around the Playhouse/Art School area in Norwich. I have buildered in the Norwich area for a while and know several crazy people who have emulated John Redhead’s ascent of the cathedral (the view from the cross atop the west end is particuarly spectacular although the spire has always defeated me). The Art School too offers very good sport (I was most happy you mentioned the dome, I know it well) however all the climbs that occur on it or in that area that I know of have taken place past midnight by a group of taciturn gents in black clothing who make a very big point of not being seen. Thus all informnation concerning “the men who climb up things near the playhouse in Norwich” would be greatly appreciated if only to annoy my associates that their efforts at not drawing attention are being undone. Also, I would very much like to see them myself as I have sadly never witnessed them “attack the tree sans shirts”. This sounds hilarious.

    Snobbery aside I was most intrested to learn of the leap from the Art School dome into the Wensum in Richard Deakin’s book, that is some leap! I shall have to find myself a copy of it to read.

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