This article contains text that is written in a promotional tone .(June 2024) |
Ivan Beerkus | |
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Born | Moscow, Russia | 11 May 1994
Occupation(s) | Blogger, scaling skyscrapers |
Known for | Scaling skyscrapers |
Ivan Beerkus (born Ivan Artemovich Kuznetsov on May 11, 1994, in Moscow) is a rooftopper and blogger who gained recognition for his photos taken on the rooftops of skyscrapers around the world.
Ivan Beerkus's ascents have captured the attention of the global media. Among more than 200 structures he has conquered are the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Main Building of Moscow State University, Shun Hing Square in Shenzhen, China, Mercury City Tower in Moscow, Shanghai Tower in Shanghai, the CTF Financial Centre building in Guangzhou, China, Goldin Finance 117 in Tianjin, China, and the second-tallest building in the world, Merdeka 118 in Malaysia. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Ivan Beerkus was born on May 11, 1994, in Moscow, Russia. From an early age, his parents instilled in Ivan a love for sports: he practiced aikido, swimming, football, taekwondo, and classical boxing. At the age of 16, he developed an interest in rooftopping. At 17, he climbed a construction crane at the Mercury City Tower in the Moscow City complex.
In 2013, he clinched victory in the Best of Russia photo contest under the category "People. Events. Life.". [6]
From the age of 18, Ivan started traveling to different cities for urban exploration and to conquer new heights. In 2014, at the age of 19, he climbed the construction crane of the Shanghai Tower, the tallest construction site in the world and the second-highest building at that time.
In 2016, Beerkus climbed the Eiffel Tower twice. In 2016, he traveled to China for the first time and, along with Angela Nikolau, climbed Goldin Finance 117 in Tianjin and the construction crane at the top of the tower. [7] [8] The video of their ascent gained over 920,000 views as of April 2020, attracting global media attention.
In 2022, Beerkus and Angela Nikolau scaled the rooftop of the Malaysian skyscraper Merdeka 118, the second-tallest building in the world. This event received extensive coverage from media worldwide, and videos on Instagram reached 8.6 million views. [9] [10] [11] [12]
Beerkus has over 50 ascents on tall structures worldwide. As he usually undertakes ascents without permission from authorities and building owners, he has been arrested multiple times in various countries.
In 2024, the film Skywalkers: A Love Story, featuring Beerkus and Nikolau, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Later, Netflix acquired the rights to the film. [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]
The Petronas Towers, also known as the Petronas Twin Towers and colloquially the KLCC Twin Towers, are an interlinked pair of 88-story supertall skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, standing at 451.9 metres. From 1998 to 2004, they were officially designated as the tallest buildings in the world until they were surpassed by the completion of Taipei 101. The Petronas Towers are the world's tallest twin skyscrapers and remained the tallest buildings in Malaysia until 2019, when they were surpassed by The Exchange 106. The Petronas Towers are a major landmark of Kuala Lumpur, along with the nearby Kuala Lumpur Tower and Merdeka 118, and are visible in many places across the city.
An observation deck, observation platform, or viewing platform is an elevated sightseeing platform usually situated upon a tall architectural structure, such as a skyscraper or observation tower. Observation decks are sometimes enclosed from weather, and a few may include coin-operated telescopes for viewing distant features.
Daniel Goodwin is an American climber best known for performing gymnastic-like flag maneuvers and one-arm flyoffs while free soloing difficult rock climbs on national TV and for scaling towering skyscrapers, including the Sears Tower, the John Hancock Center, the World Trade Center, the CN Tower, and the Telefónica Building in Santiago, Chile.
Telekom Tower, also known as TM Tower is a 55-storey, 310-meter-tall supertall skyscraper in Lembah Pantai in western Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and was the former headquarters of Malaysian telecommunications company, Telekom Malaysia until 2023.
Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) is a multipurpose development area in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. KLCC refers to the area within and surrounding the KLCC Park but the term has also been widely used by buildings nearby to the vicinity.
Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) is a Malaysian investment management company headquartered at the Merdeka 118 in Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur. One of the largest fund management companies in Malaysia, it was established on 17 March 1978 as one of the instruments of the government's New Economic Policy.
Goldin Finance 117, also known as China 117 Tower, is a supertall unfinished skyscraper in Xiqing District, Tianjin, China. The tower was topped out in 2015 at a height of 597 m. It has 128 storeys above ground, with 117 of them housing, hotel, and commercial space, which provides the source of the building’s name. Designed by P&T Group, construction began in 2008 but was twice halted. As of July 2024, it remains unfinished and unoccupied.
Lotte World Tower (Korean: 롯데월드타워), is a 123-story, 555 m (1,821 ft) supertall skyscraper, located in Sincheon-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, South Korea. It is the sixth-tallest building in the world, the tallest in OECD countries, and also the first in South Korea to be over 100 stories tall.
The Ping An Finance Center is a 115-storey, 599.1 m (1,966 ft) supertall skyscraper in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. The building was commissioned by Ping An Insurance and designed by the American architectural firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. It was completed in 2017, and is the tallest building in Shenzhen, the 2nd tallest building in China and the 5th tallest building in the world. It also broke the record of having the highest observation deck in a building at 562 m (1,844 ft). It is the second largest skyscraper in the world by floor area after Azabudai Hills Main Tower in Tokyo, Japan.
Merdeka 118, formerly known as Menara Warisan Merdeka, KL 118 and PNB 118, is a 118-story megatall skyscraper in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. At 678.9 m (2,227 ft) tall, it is the second-tallest building and structure in the world, only behind the Burj Khalifa at 828 m (2,717 ft).
Rooftopping, sometimes called roofing, refers to the unsecured ascent of rooftops, cranes, antennas, bell towers, smokestacks, or other tall structures, usually illegally.
Ontheroofs is an urban exploration and rooftopping photography project conceived by Vitaliy Raskalov and Vadim Makhorov, from Ukraine and from Russia respectively. Their main focus of photography is the exploration of high-rise architectural structures like skyscrapers, bridges, historic sites and cathedrals. The team have been notable for their number of free-climbs up famous buildings and monuments around the world. Typically, their videos are uploaded onto YouTube and showcase their ascent and descent. Raskalov and Makhorov appeared as recurring cast in the documentary series URBEX – Enter At Your Own Risk, which launched globally on Red Bull TV on August 1, 2016.
URBEX – Enter At Your Own Risk is an eight-part original series that launched globally on Red Bull TV on August 1, 2016. Urbex is a documentary series that chronicles the motivations, mindsets and adventures of today's new type of explorers, Urban Explorers, who explore areas above, around and below the world's most famous cities, climbing cranes and bridges, descending into subway networks, infiltrating monuments to industry and commerce old and new. Urbex stands for Urban Exploration. The series was filmed in locations across the world including Moscow, Melbourne, Malaysia, Mumbai, Copenhagen, Kazakhstan, Dubai, Toronto, Marseille and Bulgaria with some of the world's most famous urban explorers like Oleg Cricket and Ontheroofs' Vitaliy Raskalov and Vadim Makhorov. The series was promoted with digital enhancement 360-degree videos.
The Exchange 106, formerly known as the TRXSignature Tower, is a 453.1-meter-tall supertall skyscraper in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the second-tallest building in Malaysia and the third-tallest building in Southeast Asia. It is also the second largest skyscraper in Malaysia by floor area with 453,885 m2 (4,886,000 sq ft). The tower has a net lettable area of 240,000 square metres. It is also the centerpiece of the new Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) financial district.
Justin Casquejo, also known online as LiveJN, is an American rooftopper, free solo climber and stunt performer of Filipino descent. He has scaled several skyscrapers in Manhattan, New York City, as well as a water tower in his hometown, Weehawken, New Jersey, and has been arrested, charged, and convicted for some of his activities. Others have been brought to light through his publication on social media, such as Instagram and YouTube.
BHL Tower is a commercial skyscraper within George Town in the Malaysian state of Penang. Located at Northam Road, the 30-storey building was completed in 1995 and stands at a height of 108 m (354 ft).
Angela Nikolau is a Russian rooftopper and blogger who gained recognition due to her unusual photographs taken on the roofs of skyscrapers around the world.
Skywalkers: A Love Story is a 2024 American documentary film directed by Jeff Zimbalist and co-directed by Maria Bukhonina, and produced by Zimbalist, Bukhonina, Tamir Ardon, and Chris Smith. It is about rooftopping as it follows Russian couple Angela Nikolau and Vanya Beerkus.