Highest
Glass Floor of the World
If you're scared of heights, it may be time to look away
now.
Not content with having the tallest building in America ,
the owners of Sears Tower in Chicago have installed four glass box viewing
platforms which stick out of the building 103 floors up.
The balconies are suspended
1,353 feet in the air and jut out four feet from the building's Skydeck.
Floating on air: Visitors get their first view
from The Ledge, four glass balconies suspended from the 103rd floor of Chicago
's Sears Tower
Designers say the platforms - collectively dubbed The
Ledge - have been purposely designed to make visitors feel as they are floating
above the city.
The reward is unobstructed views of Chicago from the building's west side
and a heart-stopping vista of the street and Chicago River below - for those
brave enough to look straight down.
'It's like walking on ice,' visitor
Margaret Kemp, from Bishop, California said. 'The first step you take you think
"Am I going down?"'
Fearless: Anna Kane, five, spreads out on the
floor of the 10ft square box which is 1,353ft up
Spectacular: She also enjoyed amazing views out
across the city
'At first I was kind of afraid but I got
used to it,' 10-year-old Adam Kane from Alton , Illinois , said as clouds
drifted by below.
'Look
at all those tiny things that are usually huge.'
John Huston, one of the owners of
the Sears Tower , even admitted to getting 'a little queasy' the first time he
ventured out on to the balcony. However, after 30 or 40 trips, he seems to have
got used to it.
Thrillseekers: The boxes jut out four feet from
the building and were specifically designed to make visitors feel as if they are
floating
'The Sears Tower has always
been about superlatives - tallest, largest, most iconic,' he
said.
'The Ledge is the world's most awesome view, the world's most
precipitous view, the view with the most wow in the world.'
The balconies are 10ft high
and 10ft wide, can hold five tons, and have glass which is 1.5 inch
thick.
Unfazed: Although some adults felt dizzy after
experiencing the Ledge, children seemed to take it in their
stride
