The New York Times building was scaled by another climber late yesterday afternoon. Following the lead of French stuntman Alain Robert, who climbed the Old Gray Lady’s digs yesterday morning, Renaldo (Rey) Clarke of Brooklyn, USA started his 40-minute ascent up the skyscraper starting at about 6:00PM yesterday afternoon. Clarke had reportedly been planning the climb for more than a year and had left work yesterday angry that Robert had stolen his thunder, heading straight to the site of the building to begin his own stunt.
The green design of The New York Times building, by world famous architect Renzo Piano, utilizes ceramic tubes running horizontally (seen in photo) up the entire building to regulate the amount of light and heat absorbed into the workspace. These tubes were used as a makeshift ladder by both Robert and Clarke in their barehanded climbs up the side of the structure both without a rope or net.
Like Robert, Clarke stopped traffic and drew a crowd of onlookers surrounding the building on the West Side of Manhattan during his stunt. The street had to be cordoned off once again as spectators gathered for the day’s second aerial spectacle, who once again cheered and applauded as Clarke reached the top. Apparently Clarke was considerably more winded than the professional climber Robert, and took more time ascending the upper portion of the structure where NYPD Officers offered him a rope that he flatly declined. Like his French counterpart, Clarke was arrested upon reaching the roof of the building. NY Times officials state that plans are under way to beef up security to ensure no more such stunts take place.
Rey Clarke wore a T-Shirt during his ascent bearing the words “Malaria No More”, the name of a grassrooots non-profit group fighting malaria around the world that claimed to have no connection, whatsoever, to Clarke or his stunt. You can takepart in fighting malaria, a disease that causes more than one million deaths annually, by logging onto malarianomore.org.
NY Times: 2 Men Scale NY Times Building Hours Apart
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Tagged as:Alain Robert • Brooklyn • Brooklyn USA • green building • Malaria No More • malarianomore.org • New York Times • New York Times building • New York Times Building Stunts • NY Times Building Daredevils • NY Times Building Stunts • nypd • Old Gray Lady • Renaldo Clarke • Renzo Piano • Rey Clarke
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