Cooper_Union_New_Academic_Building_from_northI’m an art student at The Cooper Union (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper_Union) in New York City and for a graphic design class project I’m going to be putting together a buildering guidebook for our “campus”.

My question to you guys is, what are some of the essential parts to include in a guidebook? So far I’ve only had the chance read The Roof-Climber’s Guide to Trinity (2nd Edition), so my knowledge is pretty limited. I’m planning on including a short history of buildering and buildering guidebooks; about a dozen different routes with accompanying photos/diagrams; and finally a map pointing out where each of the routes is located. If there’s anything else you think is necessary, please let me know.

Also, here’s some buildering content from a protest that took place last semester. Our school’s board of trustees mismanaged the school’s funds over the past decade, and now they’re considering charging undergraduate tuition for the first time since 1902. As part of a larger protest, Jesse climbed onto a statue infront of the school and danced with a sign reading “No Tuition It’s Our Mission”.
http://gothamist.com/2012/04/25/student_climbs_peter_cooper_statue.php#photo-6

Related Posts

4 Responses

  1. Jayness Reply

    Cooper Union, eh? Do you know Keegan by any chance? I’m not going to mention last names on here.

    To me, by far the most important thing is understanding the local laws and risks associated with climbing. It seems to be a slap on the wrist in most other countries, but the penalties in the United States are typically more severe (although it’s usually at the cop’s discretion). So you have to know the basics of trespassing laws and the difference between security guards and cops and all that good stuff, but it helps if you have any specific info for the climb itself. For instance, does one of the security guards like to climb as well? I had a guard shine his spot light on me to help me get up a route once. Another time though, I was just looking at a route (I put my hands on it for a few seconds but my feet never left the ground) and a cop tried to arrest me. This is the kinda stuff that’s hard to come by and can only be discovered through trial and error, but it’s what will make for a really good guidebook. The basics of buildering are pretty generic, and I’m pretty sure Kiell and Ard will chime in more on that.

    With regards to urban exploring and dealing with cops and security in New York, you should definitely talk to this guy.

  2. Kiell Reply

    Awesome project. I’m sure everyone here will be happy to help out any way that we can.

    I assume you’re a climber yourself? If not, it’s difficult to learn about the nuances of buildering without having experienced it yourself. I can’t think of any rock climbing guidebook that was written by someone who hasn’t been climbing for at least 15 years. For this reason, get out there and try climbing some stuff. You’ll soon start to understand where the challenges lie and what knowledge will be valuable.

    Even if your book is an art project, I’m guessing you have a specific readership in mind. Do you want to aim this at arty, architectural and anthropology students or do you want it to be more practical. For example, it’s worth checking out LA Climbs and comparing it with the work that Ard has done here on buildering.net. The former is a climber’s slightly tongue-in-cheek examination of Los Angeles architecture whilst the latter is a useful guide/resource/archive for the buildering scene in BC. Both have value, both serve very different purposes. Given the links that you posted, I’m guessing that the former is more in line with what you’re looking to create.

    Other suggestions:

    Read this forum. I posted recently in this thread:
    https://buildering.net/node/1106

    And you might want to get in touch with this guy who’s doing something similar:
    https://buildering.net/node/1109

    Keep in mind that it’s worth having an awesome photographer with with a nice, wide-angle lens to make it all worthwhile. 🙂

    Keep us posted. 😀

  3. Alec Reply

    Jayness: I’m not too worried about running into trouble doing this project, since I’m limiting it to the two buildings that make up our campus and we dont have campus police. Also, the neighborhood realizes it’s an art school, and so people are generally used to weird shit going on. I’ll definitely set aside a portion of the guidebook to discuss the risks though.

    Kiell: Unfortunately I don’t have anywhere near 15 years worth of experience. My dad took me to climb rocks and gyms occasionally when I was a kid, and now I climb every friday. As for readership, it will be critiqued in class and probably shared with the climbing club at the school. Also if it doesn’t turn out embarrassingly bad, I may upload it here 😀 . Thanks for the book suggestion! LA Climbs looks like the kind of thing I’m going for (just ordered a copy).

    Thanks for the input guys

  4. Kiell Reply

    Nice one, Alec. Sounds like you’re on the right track if you’re climbing regularly. LA Climbs will be really useful but before you sit down to read it, have a flick through a few other climbing guide books so that you get an idea of what it is a pastiche of. Might be a little confusing otherwise. Climbing guides generally will be really useful as they’ll give a background to the area, an explanation of grades, a bit about climbing etiquette and then a whole loads of topographical photographs with random lines, symbols and explanations.

    Sleep.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.