Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Sears Tower-Highest Glass Floor in the World

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.











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12 comments:

SER said...

The Skydeck attracts 25,000 visitors on clear days. They each pay $15 to take an elevator ride up to the 103rd floor of the 110-story office building that opened in 1973.

The balconies are 10ft high and 10ft wide, can hold five tons, and have glass which is 1.5 inch thick.

I get the "willies" just looking at the pictures...I cannot deal with heights.

September 30, 2009 at 9:00 AM
kkdither said...

If you have never been there, it is worth the trip. I saw a helicopter and airplanes flying below me.

They make it an "experience." There is a movie beforehand with some history and includes a personal touch from the famous celeb, Oprah. Oh, and they do require you to take a picture "memento." Actually security in camouflage.

They renamed the tower this year. No longer named the Sears tower, (Sears hasn't occupied office space there in quite a while) it is now called the Willis Tower.
http://www.willistower.com/

September 30, 2009 at 9:50 AM
Anonymous said...

NO FRICKIN' WAY ARE YOU EVER GOING TO GET ME OUT THERE!!!!

September 30, 2009 at 10:42 AM
Beejay said...

I will be on the ground looking up...I'm with SER and Logjam...no way!

September 30, 2009 at 12:54 PM
SER said...

I don't know...if that "Cream Puff" KK can go up there...that sounds like a challenge to me!

September 30, 2009 at 3:41 PM
hale-bopp said...

Of course real Chicagoans now call it the Big Willie.

The Hancock Building isn't quite as tall but is widely regarded as having a much better view due to its location. It is not as crowded so give it a try.

Back in the day when I was in college, my friends and I had a game we would play in Chicago. The rules were we would each visit the Sears Tower, the Hancock Building, and the Standard Oil (now Aon) building. You go into the first floor and find an elevator (without paying) and take it up as high as you can go. You then try to find another elevator and take it up...the goal was to reach the top of each building...winner determined by the total number of floors you got up in all three buildings combined.

Now you would probably end up on some government list if you tried to pull that stunt.

September 30, 2009 at 3:45 PM
fungi said...

They may be the highest above sea level but if you want highest above solid ground go to the Grand Canyon.
The Hualipai tribe has a walkway that juts out 70 ft over the edge of the Grand Canyon, 4000 ft over the canyon floor. http://www.grandcanyon.com/grand-canyon-skywalk.html
I wonder what it's like up there on a windy day!!!!!

September 30, 2009 at 4:29 PM
OrbsCorbs said...

I lived in Chicago for 10 years and never went up in any of those buildings. If I was out on the glass in one of those pictures, or on that skywalk, there would be a yellow puddle directly below me.

September 30, 2009 at 10:25 PM
Lizardmom said...

not in a million years!!!!

October 1, 2009 at 3:49 AM
SER said...

KK...After giving it some thorough think...YOU win. No way in hell, I could stand on that thing.

October 1, 2009 at 6:57 AM
Anonymous said...

H.B.: "Big Willie"?....heh heh heh.
Anyhow; there was one of the classic psychologist, I think Jean Piaget that did something like this with a baby in his cognitive development studies. He took a toddler and walked it on a solid floor; no problem. But when the kid got to the plexiglass that was placed over a depression in the floor, the kid wouldn't go on it. When the kid was placed on the plexiglass, the kid went nuts and filled his/her diddies, even though the kid was perfectly safe.
I wonder, does this say something about the development of........

October 1, 2009 at 1:28 PM
kkdither said...

I used to have a dog that was crazy... or had bad eyesight. I put a dark brown oriental rug in the hallway and she freaked out. She shinnied along the wall, avoiding it like she was going to fall into a black hole.

October 1, 2009 at 4:04 PM

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