Yikes! Sears Tower’s 1353-Foot High Glass Balconies
Jul 02, 2009 - By Jared Newman
Would you trust a glass floor that’s an inch and a half thick when suspended 103 stories in the air? People in Chicago today can find out at the Sears Tower, which opened its new set of glass balconies for public viewing. “The Ledge,” as they’re collectively called, hangs 1,353 feet in the air. With transparent walls and ceilings, visitors say its like floating in the sky, and the view is, of course, spectacular. Don’t worry, those glass floor can withstand five tons, but just to be safe, jumping up and down is probably not a good idea. [AP]
Friday, July 3, 2009 1:47PM
OMFG
Friday, July 3, 2009 2:32PM
Yeah. All I could think while looking is "Scared Shitless"
Friday, July 3, 2009 2:45PM
willis tower
Friday, July 3, 2009 3:05PM
My stomach just did a flip flop looking at those pictures. It isn't the glass walls that would bug me, but looking straight down through the floor that freaks me out!
Friday, July 3, 2009 3:45PM
I agree, but the minors of today grow up conditioned to feel safe and secure in all situations- in an unsafe and insecure world. When something happens it is too late to teach safety, security and caution. From the internet public message boards, games and social nets to glass balconies in the sky…we condition the current generation to be fearless. It would seem our culture has a "DULCE PERICULUM!!!" mind set. Note: Latin Celtic Scottish translation is "DANGER IS SWEET".
Friday, July 3, 2009 10:51AM
Just like that one they built or are building over the Grand Canyon, I think it’s best to just watch other people walk on it. Think I will stay away.
Saturday, July 4, 2009 1:41AM
What a view! I think it would be fun. Why should the world be too safe? Just because technology advances doesn't mean we can't take the risk to live a little.
Saturday, July 4, 2009 6:11AM
I drove by the Sears Tower today and looked up at the glass boxes and realized how absolutely amazing it is that there would be people standing in them, they look tiny from the ground. I cant wait to go see for my self.
Saturday, July 4, 2009 6:57AM
They have something like this at the Macau Tower. We had a fun time jumping from a flight of stairs onto the glass balcony below. It was frightening, but not as much as the bungee jump from the top of the tower we had just done previously.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 7:36PM
It's definitely a bit "scary" looking, but I think I'd be like that little girl in the photo – LAYING DOWN on the glass. That would almost give me a sensation of "flying".
Monday, July 6, 2009 3:46PM
I agree with celebrationsgirl. THe walls are quite enough without someone looking up my dress 103 stories in the air. This is not for me! I will leave standing on the ledge for those who are much more daring!
Monday, July 6, 2009 5:23PM
i hear you
Monday, July 6, 2009 10:18PM
thats is one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I want to go there now and experience that! In fact I'm booking a trip to Chicago just to do that!!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009 7:04AM
A true Chicagoan will always know it and call it by it's original and better fitted name: "The Sears Tower."
Thursday, July 9, 2009 4:57PM
I wonder how long it'll take (if it hasn't already) for some knuckle head to jump up and down trying crack or break the damn thing. No thanks!
Sunday, July 12, 2009 11:13AM
great, but I think I’d get faint
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 12:07AM
Absolutely not! No way… never in a million years, not for a million bucks. I shudder just thinking about it. I cannot stand to look at those little girls…..ooohhhhh my gosh.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 3:31PM
It said that it holds 5 tons? I think if I stood there I would feel like I weighed 5 tons,, and down i'd go, and I always say,, my last name is McPhillips and with that l ast name its been whatever can go wrong will, murphys law,, the Sears Tower is magnificent but you can keep the clear ledges,, the photos will be enough for me… thank you very much!!! haha
Thursday, July 16, 2009 11:17AM
[...] in the United States today. In other Sears/Willis Tower news, check out the recently revealed glass balconies on the Willis Tower’s 103rd floor. [via chicagotribune, image r.duran] Posted In: [...]
Sunday, July 19, 2009 9:09PM
Im going tonight and I can't wait!!!! It looks amazing…
Saturday, August 8, 2009 6:54AM
Possibly true, except that this is completely safe, so the kids' instincts are actually correct. Just because something is transparent doesn't mean it's not as strong as steel or concrete; it's your instincts that are askew.
Monday, August 17, 2009 3:44AM
Planning to take my girlfriend there for her birthday, before dinner! Should be fun.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009 12:47AM
Beautiful! But… I don't know if I had the courage :)
Friday, September 18, 2009 4:56PM
Awesome opportunity…also available in Canada at the CN Tower in Toronto…glass floor …but still neat!
Sunday, October 4, 2009 9:00PM
WE DID THIS ON THE WEEKEND, AND WOW IT IS SPECTACULAR
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 2:08PM
Call me crazy, but I'd be willing to bet they had an engineer or two work out some calculations to see if the glass could hold people before they installed it. Not only that, I'd be willing to bet they calculated that it could hold as many corn-fed midwesterners as you could possibly cram in there, during a tornado, and then probably four times that. The managers of the building probably have an insurance policy that states that you can't have people falling to their deaths all the time, or else their premiums would go up.
The tensile strength of some glass is unknown, and possibly unknowable. Steel is tested for tensile strength on machines that essentially tear steel beams apart, but determine what forces the steel could take until it failed. When they use steel testing equipment to try to pull annealed, tempered glass apart, the equipment fails before the glass does. I'm going to do my Latin Celtic Scottish Danger Jig on that glass platform when I take my kids up to see it.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 2:16PM
Standing in a building full of lawyers, I bet it's safe.