Misinterpreting Architecture Worldwide

Freight - The Movie

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Sorry for the lack of updates as of late, but the good thing about these extended AWOLs is that it usually means I'm working on something big behind the scenes. In this case, it's the long overdue (awaited?) documentary from my freight train trip across Canada.

The film clocks in at 64 minutes, but I'm trying to pare it down to 30 minutes for the festival circuit. It's a bit like asking someone to cut off two of their own limbs though. What stays and what goes?

Those in the Vancouver area, I'll be having a screening/release party at some point mid October. Stay tuned.

A Rose in Dakar

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from: vera ray (cynthia.kuru@yahoo.com)
reply-to: vara_ray5000@yahoo.in
to: ardarvin@gmail.com
date: Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 3:04 AM
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Marina Bay Sands Buildering Race

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Tomorrow ESPN is going to be broadcasting a buildering race up Singapore's new Marina Bay Sands hotel. From the World Championship Climb website:

The Marina Bay Sands 2010 World Championship Climb to the Sands Skypark is the first event of its kind: a speed race to climb the 55-floor Marina Bay Sands hotel, showcasing the courage and skills of some of the fastest climbers in the world.

The event is a team speed competition, with seven teams of three climbers each, representing seven different regions of the world. The climbers are all world-class professional climbers with a variety of different specialties and strengths. Each team includes one female and two male climbers.

The race is a team relay, with seven climbers on each of the hotel's three towers. Each team must climb the three towers in succession, followed by a sprint across the Skypark to a dramatic finish line where the TV cameras, news media, and a special celebrity guest await the winners.

The climbers include a whole bunch of people I've never heard of, and a few I probably should have heard of. Ahem. People of Asia: I too like luxury hotels, or more importantly, climbing them. Just saying. And where's Alain Robert? Any chance he's the celebrity guest? Hmm, doubtful. I'm gonna go ahead and guess that it's Bobcat Goldthwait. The world needs more Bobcat.

Did you come up with that all by yourself?

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I recently stumbled upon this LA Times article: Stunt Climbers Use Buildings For Their Own Causes , by Christopher Hawthorne. It's an older piece regarding the double ascent of the NY Times building in 2008.

At one point he mentions buildering.net:

There is, not surprisingly, a whole series of websites devoted to the obscure hobby, including buildering.net, on which by Thursday night the message boards were buzzing with news of Robert's latest conquest.

I was more interested in the site's tag line, running in horizontal script at the top of my browser. "Buildering.net," it read. "Misinterpreting architecture worldwide."

Like Robert himself, the site may be French, the tag line no more than a charming malapropism. But the phrase is a fascinating one, raising a range of questions about how people react to a piece of architecture once it's completed, and how using a building in a way that the architect or the client never intended can actually animate it in the public imagination.

A charming malapropism? Did all that well-formed English on buildering.net lead you to believe I'm French, or did you just make a pathetically obvious attempt at claiming a brilliant idea as your own? Here's a bit of French for you Chris: fuck off.

Builder Beer

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UBC Buildering Contest 8

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pic

James on Clock Tower.

Spammers Have Feelings Too

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from: Max Miller, millermax10@gmail.com
to: ardarvin@gmail.com
subject: Re: Account details for millermax10 at buildering.net (deleted)
==========================================================================

Just wondering, why did you keep this comment:

by jsmith.hkcs - 04/27/2010 - 04:32
What is the best way to travel throughout Canada?
Regards,
TORONTO AIRPORT LIMO

I was merely letting your readers know about a similar service.....

Max.

UBC Buildering Contest 8 (Invite)

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pic

When: Thurs, April 29, 8pm.
Where: Meet at Norm Theatre, main floor of Student Union Building, UBC
What: A buildering competition. All abilities welcome. NO Climbing shoes! NO Chalk! Boulder pads provided.
See last year's comp to get an idea what it's all about. Date will be moved if raining.

Tricks OK, Tricks NOT OK.

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In response to Kiell's extreme Razor video, I've made the following list:

This is THE definitive list. Impressionable youth of the world: save yourself many years of wasted effort, ridicule, and lack of friends by adhering to this list.

Parkour Vid

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Another front-page worthy video found by Kiell:

Main Entry: builder
Pronunciation: 'bil-d&r
Function: verb
Etymology: from boulder, to climb boulders.
Date: circa 1970
Synonyms: urban climbing, stegophilism
1. to climb a man-made structure designed for purposes other than climbing.