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The Building Which 1,353 Feet Transparent Balcony

By: erymar send a private message
Chicago : IL : USA | 4 months ago  
Views: 837
  • Sky view from Sears Tower
    Sky view from Sears Tower
    Posted by: erymar
    Visitor enjoyed the sky views of Chicago (Reuters photo)
Sky view from Sears Tower

How it’s feel when you in the transparent building which is high 1,353 feet in the air ? It’s maybe like walking on the air ? Chicago has a transparent walls, floor and ceiling leave visitors with the impression they’re floating over the city in the Sears Tower.

Building’s 103rd floor skydeck got a sneak preview of balconies. The balconies have been nicknamed “The Ledge”open to public Thursday. Visitors treated wonderful views of Chicago from the building’s west side and a heart-stopping vista of the street and Chicago River below.

”It’s like walking on ice, first time step you take –am I going down?” said one of visitor Margaret Kemp. Her heart was still pounding even after stepping away from the balcony. You could get hang of it on 30 or 40 trips later.

One of the property owner John Huston said they present with the world’s most awesome, precipitous, and the most wow view. The $350 million balconies can hold five tons, and the glass is an inch-and-a-half thick. Sears Tower officials have said the inspiration for the balconies came from the hundreds of forehead prints visitors left behind on Skydeck windows every week. The green renovation complete with wind turbines, roof garden, and solar panels.

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  • News Source: Washington Post | 4 months ago
    Children stand on an enclosed ledge, which extends four feet from the building, 1,353 feet (and 103 floors) above the ground. Four such ledges, attache to the Skydeck observation area of the Sears Towers, open to the public today. (Frank Polich --...
  • News Source: Chicago-Sun Times | 4 months ago
    Gingerly at first, fearlessly after a time, I stood on the glass floor of the new attraction on the Sears Tower Skydeck. It promises patrons the sense of standing in space, free to admire the unobstructed view of a city 1,353 feet straight below...
  • News Source: Chicago Tribune | 4 months ago
    Reporters check out the new "Ledge" at Sears Tower (Jose M...For those who can stand heights, the new "Ledge" that will allow visitors to the Sears Tower Skydeck to look straight down 1,353 feet opens Thursday at 9 a.m. The Ledge--actually enclosed...
  • News Source: Fox News | 4 months ago
    Visitors to the Sears Tower's new glass balconies all seem to agree: The first step is the hardest. "It's like walking on ice," said Margaret Kemp, of Bishop, Calif., who said her heart was still pounding even after stepping away from the balcony. "...
  • News Source: Chicago-Sun Times | 5 months ago
    Sears Tower opened the curtains today on its new Skydeck attraction called the Ledge, glass bays that give visitors a straight look down 103 floors. The attraction is the topper of a multi-million dollar renovation of the Skydeck experience on the...
  • News Source: Lexington Herald-Leader | 5 months ago
    The Sears Tower is pictured in Chicago, Wednesday, June, 24, 2009. A visitor takes a photograph from the observation deck in the Sears Tower in Chicago, Wednesday, June, 24, 2009. This architectural rendering released by Adrian Smith & Gordon Gill...
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  • Blog Source: cbs11tv.com
    Its four enclosures look down 1353 feet over Chicago. The glass is three layers thick, and each layer is a half-inch thick. The balconies can to hold about five tons. Sears Tower officials said the inspiration for the balconies came ...
  • Blog Source: bigpicture.typepad.com
    The balconies are suspended 1353 feet (412 meters) in the air and jut out 4 feet (1.22 meters) from the building's 103rd floor Skydeck. They're actually more like boxes than balconies, with transparent walls, floor and ceiling. ...
  • Blog Source: www.windychat.com
    A glass ledge, actually, suspended from the building's 103rd floor Skydeck. "The Ledge" is the nickname given to a set of glass balconies that open to the public Thursday. Sears Tower ... Click here to read article.. Digg this Post! ...
  • Blog Source: redcardigan.blogspot.com
    Kemp was among the visitors who got a sneak preview of the balconies Wednesday. "The Ledge," as the balconies have been nicknamed, open to the public Thursday. Visitors are treated to unobstructed views of Chicago from the building's west side ... I
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Posted By mona37 mona37 | 4 months ago
wow this is awesome! i so wish i could have checked it out for my self!!
Posted By aquamarina217 aquamarina217 | 4 months ago
This experience must engender a wonderful, mystical feeling. Such a balcony allows one a semi-similar experience to flying (except you're not moving through air and you can't feel the air on you). However, it is still amazing to be able to view the world by looking up, left, right and below as you stand 1,353 feet in the air. This article reminds me of every time I fly in an airplane and look out the window. I constantly remind myself that I am thousands of feet above my home, my friends and land. I often imagine myself in that seat in a transparent airplane and how beautiful and also scary it would feel to glide through the air and see the world below me. Surreal-like. What would be even more inspiring and amazing would be if they could build a whole floor (and not just a balcony) so people could walk back and forth "on air"!

Mona37, what do you mean by "could have checked it out"? Surely the balcony is still there?
Posted By BorderExplorer BorderExplorer | 4 months ago
erymar, I didn't notice that you had an article about The Ledges already posted on Allvoices before I posted mine or I would not have put mine up. Now I see it ooks like there are a couple more on this topic, also. The Ledges are so interesting--a new engineering wonder--I can see why they attracted the interest. Anyway I really like your article, and I apologize for accidentally duplicating your topic.

@aquamarina217, there's something a little similar to a whole floor (quite a bit more than a balcony) at the Grand Canyon where a relatively new, entirely transparent platform juts out over the Grand Canyon that lets people walk around "on air."
Posted By erymar erymar | 4 months ago
Everbody must wondering how is it feel to step on the air . You right BorderExplorer This experience is a new engineering wonder...
Posted By myfigment myfigment | 4 months ago
This is a wonderful architectural marvel, however, I pass! Fear of heights gets me.
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