Amazing pictures of new Sears Tower balconies 1353ft high

[Honey]

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.

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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?"'

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Fearless: Anna Kane, five, spreads out on the floor of the 10ft square box which is 1,353ft up

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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.

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Thrillseekers: The boxes jut out four feet from the building and were specifically designed to make visitors feel as if they are floating
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'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.
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Unfazed: Although some adults felt dizzy after experiencing the Ledge, children seemed to take it in their stride
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Long way up: Even the floor of the platforms are glass - few were brave enough to look straight down

Inspiration came from the hundreds of forehead prints visitors left behind on Skydeck windows every week. Now, staff will have a new glass surface to clean: floors.
Architect Ross Wimer said: 'We did studies that showed a four-foot-deep (1.2 metres) enclosure makes you feel like you're floating since there's only room for one row of people, not two.'
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.
For more information on Chicago visit The Official Chicago and Illinois Tourist Office web site for international travel.



Towering: A view of the Sears Tower (black building in the foreground). The Ledge is on the 103rd floor

Don't look down: Terrifying view from glass box balcony jutting out from skyscraper's 103rd floor | Mail Online

[angelais]

Oh my god, I would crap my pants if I had to go out there! Major heebee jeebees.

[TheFarSide]

Hell. No.

[celeb_2006]

My legs are feeling weak just looking at the pics.

[sputnik]

awesome! i'd love to visit. i love how the kids seem to really take to it. love this picture:

[Mivvi21]

I would be terrified that it would crack and break off as I was standing in it. There's no way I would go in there.

[msdeb]

there's going to be wear and tear on that eventually, and someone is going to fall 103 floors. and it wont be me

[Wiseguy]

It looks amazing and I'd love to be on that ledge.

[NicoleWasHere]

Aw hell naw

[emkat]

I feel sick looking at the pictures. Just what is holding those up?

[RevellingInSane]

The view from the Tower is amazing, but the first few moments are scary as hell. I don't know if I would have the courage to go into the balconies. I doubt it.

[ManxMouse]

Originally Posted by msdeb

there's going to be wear and tear on that eventually, and someone is going to fall 103 floors. and it wont be me

On NPR yesterday, one of the architects or something said that it was built to hold 5 tons, and there's never going to be anywhere remotely near that amount of weight on it. I think it's cool!

[darksithbunny]

Fuck that.

And there is no way I would let my kids stand on that. Scratch that my son just said, "What the hip hop?" No way we are doing that mom." haha!

[*DIVA!]

No thank you...

[WhateverLolaWants]

Throw me in with the 'I'd crap myself' lot. I hate heights