Vertigo Inducing Glass Balconies at Willis Tower, Chicago

The Skydeck on the 103rd floor of Chicago's famous landmark - The Sears Tower (now Willis Tower), the tallest building in the Americas and World's tallest building from 1974 to 1998, has always been the biggest tourist attraction of Chicago, as it provides a panoramic view of not only Chicago, its nearby areas and Lake Michigan but on a clear day, one can also see upto about 50 km (40 miles) of the neighbouring areas of Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin. As per Wikipedia about 1.3 million tourists visit it annually.

In 2009 the Skydeck underwent renovation and to further enhance its popularity, four glass balconies were added on the western facade of the tower. These five-sided glass balconies or boxes have been named as 'The Ledge' and allow the visitors view of all five sides including vertigo inspiring view of South Wacker Drive; 1,353 feet (412 metre) down below.

Each 10 feet high, 10 feet wide (~3m x 3m) box extends about 4 feet (~1.2 metres) from the wall and is made of 1.5 inch (~3.8 cm.) thick crystal clear, laminated glass panels. Entire box hangs from a steel truss that rides on rails and can be retracted back into the building for cleaning and maintenance.

Caution: Some of the ensuing images and video clip may upset acrophobics (those who have fear of heights).

Image from Picasaweb is by Sunfun

Image from Flickr is by Vaa_see_leh

Image from Flickr is by Zolk

Image from Flickr is by (Carrie Sloan)

Image from Flickr is by Josh Koonce

Image from Flickr is by agit-prop

Image from Flickr is by kenschneiderusa

Image from Picasaweb is by Sunfun

Image from Flickr is by yapsnaps

Image from Flickr is by Little Koshka

Image from Flickr is by seizethedave

Image from Flickr is by CharlotteSpeaks♥{Charlotte.Morrall}

Image from Flickr is by Neha & Lunatech


360 degree panoramic view of above clip with panning control can be seen at 360cities.net

View location of Willis Tower in Google Earth / Google Maps (Since the imagery is old The Ledge cannot be seen in Google Earth satellite view or the Google Street View.)

Source of info and more info:
Credits: Kite_surfer, Master Cartographer, Google Earth Community, whose post entitled "103" in GEC forum brought this to my knowledge.

1 comment:

  1. These images are scary! I don’t think I would like to go on this elevator. There is a tall building like this in Toronto. Once on the top you can stand on a glass bottom and see all the way down. It was so hard for me – I could only look from a distance.

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