Glass viewing platforms. Creepy glass bridges and observation decks in China
Getting to know the most beautiful places The world would not be so memorable if there were no specially equipped viewing platforms. Rising above beautiful scenery or architectural masterpieces, a person experiences completely different sensations compared to walking tours and sightseeing "from the ground".
Staying on extreme viewing platforms with a glass floor gives a special sharpness to the sensations. The use of special high-strength laminated glass makes such rides absolutely safe. The feeling of flying over the abyss, weightlessness over dizzying expanses attracts travelers like a magnet.
Stepping on the transparent floor of the observation deck for the first time, people feel a heady tremor in their knees. Experienced travelers feel much more confident - they are happy to take pictures against the backdrop of magnificent open spaces. To experience such sensations without worrying about their safety - for the sake of such a chance, tourists travel thousands of kilometers to the most remote corners of the planet.
Glass cabin in the Alps
At the top of the Aiguille du Midi mountain, part of the Mont Blanc massif, at an altitude of 3842 meters, a transparent glass cabin was built. The extreme attraction is part of a large tourist complex, to which travelers climb by cable car. Opens to visitors great view to alpine landscapes. High-strength glass triplex was used for the manufacture of the observation deck. Cabin, cantilevered from the edge mountain slope, withstands wind gusts of 220 kilometers per hour and does not respond to critical temperature changes. Entrance to the observation deck costs visitors $55.
Skyscraper in Los Angeles
An observation deck of an unusual design was built in Los Angeles. The extreme attraction-slide with the characteristic name Skyslide is made of the strongest glass 32 mm thick. A transparent descent 14 meters long offers visitors a gorgeous view of the San Gabriel Mountains, Pacific Ocean, Santa Catalina Island and Dodger Stadium. The sky slide is located between the 69th and 70th floors of the high building California U.S. Bank Tower at an altitude of 305 meters.
The authors of the project set themselves the goal of increasing the attractiveness of the office building. Skyslide copes with its function perfectly well: the attraction gained worldwide fame even at the concept development stage. You can feel like a bird soaring over the City of Angels for 8 US dollars. To ride down the hill, you must first go to the Skyspace panoramic observation deck - the entrance ticket costs $ 25. The "flight" lasts only 3 seconds, but this does not reduce the number of people who want to participate in the attraction.
Glass "loop" in Sichuan, China
IN Chinese province Sichuan has a spacious observation deck that welcomes visitors at an altitude of 717 meters. A structure with a transparent glass bottom hangs over a rocky cliff. extreme point"loop" is located at a distance of 27 meters from the edge of the cliff. Investors have invested more than five million dollars in the construction. Up to 200 people can be on the extreme track at the same time. This is the limit figure, which is very risky to reach, so this moment staff ensures that the number of visitors does not exceed 30 people. The entrance ticket price is $10. The developers assure the safe operation of such an architectural miracle in seismically unstable China. The design will withstand tremors during an earthquake with a magnitude of up to 8 points and a typhoon of level 14.
Skywalk: Observation Deck in Arizona
The above Chinese attraction is a copy of the American Skywalk, built in 2007 in the national park. grand canyon in northwestern Arizona. The American loop is several meters shorter than the Chinese loop. Skywalk is the leader in terms of the height of the location - under the transparent base there is an abyss with a depth of 1219 meters. An arched path with a glass floor hangs over the abyss.
The observation deck offers stunning views of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River. The attraction is very popular among tourists from all over the world. Near the observation deck, a well-equipped small tourist complex. The thickness of the laminated glass is 10 centimeters. Theoretically, the design can withstand a weight of up to 70 tons. In fact, no more than 120 people can be on the bridge at the same time. The construction of the attraction cost about 30 million dollars.
Glass bridge in Hunan, China
Over one of the deepest Chinese canyons in Hunan Province, a suspension glass bridge was built at a height of 180 meters. The design sways under the gusts of wind, which is why extreme sensations are amplified many times over. The bridge seems fragile and elegant: the bottom is made of transparent triplex, the railings are made of thin metal rods woven into a mesh. But the feeling of danger is deceptive, the parameters of the bridge are accurately calculated with a large margin of safety. The thickness of the triplex is 24 mm. The attraction acted as a replacement for the old wooden bridge, which was stretched over the abyss between two mountain peaks. The project made it possible to maintain and even increase the level of extreme sports, providing visitors complete security. The length of the glass suspension bridge is 300 meters. Today it is the second longest glass bridge in the world.
Lookout playground in Jasper National Park, Canada
An observation deck has been built in the Canadian Jasper National Park, offering a view of millennial glaciers from a height of 450 meters. The design has the shape of an arc hanging over the abyss. The platform is made of high-strength glass and steel. The apparent simplicity of the design of the structure is actually fraught with a deep artistic intent. As conceived by the designers, rust on metal is associated with rocky ledges, and transparent glass symbolizes ice growths. An extraordinary design idea made it possible to harmoniously write off the structure in the surrounding landscape. visit extreme attraction costs $32.
Glass bridge in chinese national park Zhangjiajie
An impressive glass bridge sits on Tianmen Rock in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, Hunan Province, at an altitude of 1,430 meters. The width of the bridge does not exceed a meter, the length reaches 60 meters. Walking along a rocky slope along an absolutely transparent path creates a feeling of weightlessness and movement through the air. The thickness of the laminated glass is 63 mm. After walking along the glass path, tourists get on a long cable car, where they continue their acquaintance with the local beauties.
Transparent balcony on a skyscraper in Chicago
In the heart of Chicago, Illinois, rises the 110-story skyscraper Willis Tower. The height of the building is 443 meters. There are four glass balconies on the 103rd floor of the tallest building in the US. Absolutely transparent structures made of four-centimeter glass can withstand weight up to 5 tons. A visit to the attraction costs $ 15 for lovers of extreme sensations. Glass balconies are very popular among tourists and residents of the city. Children experience special joy from the "flight" over the metropolis - little extreme people visit the Willis Tower in excursion groups.
World's longest glass bridge, China
In 2016, another glass bridge opened in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. This time, Chinese engineers have created a real record holder - the longest glass bridge in the world. The structure is 430 meters long and 6 meters wide. A thick layer of glass separates visitors from a 375 m deep abyss. Up to 800 people can be on the bridge at the same time. In addition to the traditional tests for the strength of the glass structure, an unusual experiment was organized: in front of tourists, they tried to break thick glass with sledgehammers, after which a car drove over the cracked surface. In this way, visitors were shown the highest strength of the structure and its safety even in the event of cracks.
The Neptune Planet company has been developing various areas of glazing for many years. The technical potential of the company allows the implementation of complex projects for the construction of transparent viewing platforms, bridges and balconies. Thanks to such structures, a person can "touch" the tops of mountains and skyscrapers, deep gorges and waterfalls ancient cities and vast metropolitan areas. High-strength glass structures are one of the most significant technological advances of our time.
In May 2016, the world's largest glass observation deck was opened 70 km from Beijing. total area The Pingu platform is 415 m2, and it is located at an altitude of 400 m. At the same time, all parts, including the floor and side rails, are made of glass. However, you should not be afraid of such an engineering solution. The platform is built of high-strength glass with the addition of titanium alloy. The developers are fully confident in the absolute safety of this attraction.
Kinds
The glass platform is located on a 400-meter mountain peak and recedes 33 meters from the edge of the cliff. Directly under the feet of tourists, a breathtaking view of the famous Shilin Stone Forest and Jidong Gorge opens up. The place is truly picturesque. majestic mountains, rapid river, waterfalls. Many steep limestone cliffs resemble a real stone forest. Shilin is even called the wonder of the world. It is hard to believe that this is done by nature.
Thanks to its glass construction and indescribable views, Pingu has even been compared to the Skywalk over the Grand Canyon in the United States. The Sky Path is located at an altitude of 1.2 km, but is only 20 m advanced from the edge and has a smaller area.
Impression
The observation deck "Pingu" has the shape of a vicious circle and resembles a UFO. Everyone can walk along the platform and take a closer look at the local beauties. However, for tourists, the glass floor becomes a test of courage and, in a sense, a medicine:
- First, guests experience an adrenaline rush. It's not easy to see the abyss under your feet. The brain refuses to believe that it is possible to hold on and not break down. The sensations are compared to skydiving.
- Then comes absolute relaxation. It begins to seem to a person that he is floating in the air or is in weightlessness. The effect relieves stress and nervous tension, which is especially useful for residents of megacities. Even yogis come to the site in search of nirvana. And some visitors simply lie down on the transparent floor for maximum relaxation.
The glass observation deck is never empty. Crowds of tourists walk along it in search of beautiful views, enlightenment or a good angle for a photo. After all, what could be more original than a shot over the abyss.
Glass walls and roofs have not surprised anyone for many years. But there are also many structures in the world in which transparent is floor. Most often these are buildings that are related to tourism. And today we will talk about 10 most beautiful and unusual similar cases from all over the world.
Glass balcony in a Chicago skyscraper
On the 103rd floor of the Sears Tower skyscraper in Chicago is one of the most unusual observation decks in the world. Its most interesting element is the all-glass balcony bulging outward. Even the floor in this architectural element which gives it a special edge.
For five years, this glass floor was considered absolutely safe for visitors. But recently there was an emergency - the strongest glass in it burst. There were, of course, no casualties. But the company that operates this observation deck at Sears Tower has taken steps to ensure that this never happens again by installing even stronger and thicker glass.
And if the Sears Tower skyscraper was put into operation in Chicago in 2009, then in Moscow there has been an observation deck with a glass floor for several decades. It is located at an altitude of 337 meters in the Ostankino television tower.
But it's not a balcony. The glass floor on the observation deck in Ostankino is built in separate blocks into a regular floor. Each of these elements is designed to withstand a weight of up to 10 tons.
Viewpoint over the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River
The Grand Canyon is one of the most popular and most visited tourist attractions in the United States of America. And in 2007, a very unusual object was opened on one of its slopes - the observation deck of the Grand Canyon Skywalk.
It is unusual in that this horseshoe-shaped structure, hovering over the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River, has a glass floor. And the people walking on it, in fact, are walking over a 350-meter abyss of one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Statistics show that about 10 percent of visitors to the Grand Canyon Skywalk, having seen this glass floor with their own eyes, refuse to walk on it, even though they have already paid money to enter the facility.
Even more terrifying for some visitors is walking along the observation path in the Tianmen mountains in Hunan province in China. After all, about seventy meters of the path pass through the structure with a glass floor. And this is at an altitude of 1.2 kilometers!
However, a few years ago, the path in this place was even more terrible and dangerous. After all, the modern tourist path is located on the site of the old path of the monks who lived in these mountains. And they did not have any glass floor and safe railings - they walked along separate ledges, clinging to hooks driven into the rock and ropes stretched between them.
The futuristic-looking Apple store in New York was the first building in a huge network that subsequently entangled the whole world. It spawned many imitations all over the planet. And not only the walls and ceiling, but also the floor are made of glass in this building. True, the latter is slightly clouded, so that people on the lower floors could not “admire” from below the intimate parts of the body of store visitors walking a level higher.
The glass floor inside the building is possible not only in tall skyscrapers or in high-rise stores. It is quite appropriate to do it in. Especially if it is located somewhere in the Maldives and stands on stilts in the middle of the warm azure ocean.
One of the buildings can boast of such an interior hotel LUX*Maldives. In the living room of this bungalow, the coffee table sits on glass floor, and armchairs and sofas are arranged around it.
There are similar design elements in other hotels in the Maldives. For example, in the Water Villa on Nunu Atoll.
The Sky Tower radio tower, like the Ostankino TV tower, boasts an observation deck with glass floor elements, located at an altitude of more than 300 meters above the ground. But still, we are more interested in another similar structural element of the Sky Tower.
When climbing to the above-mentioned observation deck in the Sky Tower, a tourist rides in a high-speed elevator, in which part of the floor is also made of glass. True, he does not have to admire the panoramas of the city of Auckland, but the elevator shaft of the tower.
In some cabins of the Ngong Ping 360 cable car in Hong Kong, even those people who, in principle, are calm about heights, are afraid to sit down. But even they cannot ride in a trailer flying across the sky, in which strong, bulletproof glass is installed instead of the usual floor.
Such cabins of the Ngong Ping 360 cable car are called Crystal Cabin, and travel in them costs more than in ordinary trailers with a metal floor.
In another Chinese metropolis, Shanghai, the glass floor is not a cable car cabin, but a hotel pool Holiday Inn. Moreover, this part of it is a balcony located on the twenty-fourth floor of the building.
This is one of two cases in this review where the best views on the glass floor do not open from above, but from below. A person swimming in such a pool will look like an airplane flying through the sky to others.
The Sundial Bridge across the Sacramento River in the California city of Reading is world famous for two facts. Firstly, it was designed by one of the greatest architects of our time - Santiago Calatrava.
Secondly, the surface of this pedestrian bridge is completely covered with transparent glass, which allows you to achieve incredible visual effects both in the daytime and in the evening.
On one of the creepiest lookouts in China.
Modern people, accustomed to a comfortable and measured life, apparently lack adrenaline. Even watching horror films and visiting roller coaster. How else to understand the fact that more and more tourists are ready to fly to distant lands to visit the most terrible viewing platforms peace? But the mere sight of these structures, "hovering" over the abyss, in theory, should discourage any desire to visit them.
Skywalk 
Arcuate Corridor in the USA
Skywalk Grand Canyon Viewpoint is located in Arizona (USA). It is an arched corridor, which, like a balcony, hangs over the abyss. The floor and walls of this site are transparent, and if you know that you are at an altitude of 1 km 219 meters, it becomes especially creepy. But if you are not afraid of heights, you can enjoy the stunning view of the Grand Canyon, which, by the way, is listed world heritage UNESCO, and flowing somewhere far below the Colorado River. 
The skywalk is not for the faint of heart.
The Skywalk site was opened 11 years ago, and over the years its popularity has only grown. Particularly anxious visitors are reassured by the fact that the thickness of the glass floor is 10 cm, and this unique design can withstand eight times more than that loads that it usually experiences are almost 5 tons per square meter.
Bridge in Engelberg 
bridge over mountain peaks.
Pedestrian bridge on ski resort Engelberg (Switzerland) is considered the highest in the world. At the beginning of the last century, a cable car, and it was possible to move only on funiculars. Now you can walk over a snow-covered mountain abyss on foot - along a narrow (less than a meter wide) bridge, which, by the way, also sways. 
Scary, but beautiful.
The whole journey takes 150 meters, and if you don’t think that you are at an altitude of 500 meters, you can try to pull yourself together and take pictures along the way gorgeous views Alps.
Observation deck in Alspitze 
Two arcs suspended in the sky.
The Alpspitze observation deck (Germany), opened 8 years ago, consists of two crossed arched balconies-bridges protruding 13 meters over a two-kilometer precipice. From here open beautiful views you can look at mountains and remote villages, and you can look at thick clouds not from the bottom up, but from the top down. 
For the sake of such beauty it is worth overcoming fear
Many visitors notice that when they step on the slatted floor, the structure wobbles slightly and becomes very creepy. Also, a piercing wind often blows here, and at such moments it seems that you are just going to be blown away.
Path of Fear and Bridge of Fear 
This observation deck is recognized as the most terrible in the world.
Attached to Tianmen Mountain in China's Hunan province, the Glass Sky Path is just one of several such viewpoints in China, but it's usually the one that terrifies travelers the most. And although its length is only 60 meters, the 1.5-kilometer abyss under the glass floor involuntarily makes especially impressionable tourists literally the words "to walk along the wall." And from the fact that you are walking along a steep wall, it seems that you are a real rock climber, and this makes the path even more exciting. 
Over the abyss you involuntarily cling to the wall.
Not far from this observation deck there is another "trail of fear", which is a very long and transparent suspension bridge. It is located at an altitude of 180 meters, but is considered the most terrible and longest (300 meters) of all such bridges in the world. 
The longest bridge of fear in the world.
This path is also creepy, although incredibly beautiful, but the structure itself is much wider and more impressive than the “path” on the rock. However, earlier this bridge was wooden and even then there were daredevils to walk on it.
Sky Bridge Langkawi 
From this creepy bridge you can see all the beauties of Malaysia.
In Malaysia, there is also a terrible observation deck - this is an arched bridge built 10 km from Langkawi Airport. The structure connects two mountains, and its only support is holding it - a metal pylon in the center. To get to the bridge, you must first ride one of the funiculars that start from the local village, and then climb to south end bridge on an inclined elevator or on foot along the trail. 
Even in such paradise planets can tickle your nerves.
To make walking along this long corridor more scary and at the same time more interesting, transparent “windows” are found under your feet every now and then. And at both ends of the bridge there are triangular viewing platforms from which the beauty of Malaysia opens up in full view. 
IN Lately In China, a new trend has emerged - the construction of glass bridges and platforms. These creepy places attract thousands of tourists who want to tickle their nerves. This is what the transparent bridge looks like:
Just imagine, circular views of the picturesque landscape open up under your feet. It seems as if you are floating above the ground. However, few will feel such euphoria. Transparent bridge over the abyss or glass platform will cause panic attacks in impressionable people. And although the Chinese consider walking in such places the best cure for acrophobia, experts still recommend refraining from such radical methods of dealing with the disease. Here, an obsessive fear of heights can develop into an overwhelming panic attack and provoke heart problems.
You do not suffer from acrophobia and the transparent bridge over the abyss does not cause you fear? Don't be fooled! You never know how the brain will react in a given situation, because the instinct of self-preservation is very strong, and your eyes see the danger. In the photo you can see how people get on all fours, cling to the rock, and some are even afraid to walk, so they are dragged by their legs or arms.
However, if you are a fearless extreme seeker looking for new experiences, the transparent bridge in China is exactly what you need. Such entertainment is much safer than high-speed racing and skydiving. No risk. But a lot of impressions!
3 glass bridges over the cliff of the steep mountain Tianmen
The first glass bridge was built here in autumn 2011. The thickness of the glass is only 6 cm. The second one opened for visitors in May 2016. For particularly daring tourists, bungee jumping into the abyss is offered.
The third transparent bridge on Mount Tianmen called "Wriggling Dragon" was built in 2017. The height above the abyss is 1500 meters! The glass path leads to the top of the mountain, meandering around the hill and offering breathtaking views to tourists.
More recently, the whole world has spread the news that the transparent bridge in China is cracking. One fine day, a crunch of glass was heard under the feet of frightened tourists, and many cracks formed. Video footage of the incident has also surfaced online. In fact, the administration of the attraction has planned a similar show.
Special panels were built into the glass bridge, which created a "cracking" effect. Many visitors denounced the park management for this. And right! You should be warned about this in advance. After all, a strong fright can cause a heart attack!
The longest glass bridge in the world made in China
For 1.5 years in the province of Hebei, the longest transparent bridge in the world was erected over two cliffs, which entered the Book of Records. A transparent bridge 488 meters long hung over the abyss at a height of 250 meters (approximately the level of the 66th floor of the building).
Not only is the glass only 4 cm thick, but this bridge also wobbles a little! It should be said that the structure has been tested for strength and meets all safety standards, but the realization that only a few centimeters of glass separates you from the abyss will provide a decent adrenaline rush.
Demonstration test of a glass bridge
