You could be standing on air.
That’s what it feels like when you step inside one of the glass boxes that protrude from the 103rd-floor Skydeck at Chicago’s Willis (formerly Sears) Tower. After all, the seamless, apparently unsupported glass floor is the only thing between your toes and the urban mosaic 1,300 feet below. Even if you’ve been to hundreds of observation decks, the effect of the Ledge is still unnerving.
And really, a skyscraper observation deck should make you feel like you’re flying. Decks, at their best, are a mechanism for transforming the engineering genius of super-tall buildings into pure visceral magic. Emerge from the elevators at the top of places like Toronto’s CN Tower and you get a double hit: a dizzying view and a powerful sense of immersion in the building’s unprecedented scale.
Fortunately for altitude-loving travelers, the demand for that total skyscraper experience is seemingly endless. There are currently so many observation decks opening that it’s hard to keep track.
Burj Khalifa,
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Note that while the observation deck at the newest world’s tallest building (around 2,717 feet) is called At the Top, it’s not. It’s on the 124th floor of 163. What it offers is massive double-height windows, an open-air terrace, and an unparalleled perspective, which tends to make the real Dubai look a lot like the architectural models you see on display over town.
Observe This: Buy tickets online well in advance if you want to visit at sunset. Note that a special $108 ticket will allow you to cut the line.
Observe This: Buy tickets online well in advance if you want to visit at sunset. Note that a special $108 ticket will allow you to cut the line.
The Willis (formerly Sears) Tower
Chicago
How do you make the observation deck of a 37-year-old skyscraper that hasn’t been the world’s tallest since 1998 feel new again? You attach a series of magnificently scary glass boxes, collectively known as the Ledge, to the venerable Skydeck. The illusion that you’re standing unsupported 103 stories above the ground is a real crowd-pleaser.
Observe This: The boxes are hung from a moving steel frame that allows them to be retracted into the building to make way for the window-washing rig.
Observe This: The boxes are hung from a moving steel frame that allows them to be retracted into the building to make way for the window-washing rig.
Guangzhou TV & Sightseeing Tower
Guangzhou, China
Scheduled to open to the public in November, this astonishingly skinny, shockingly tall (2,001 feet) tower has two primary functions: to support a TV antenna and to show tourists a good time. Attractions include a guided open-air climb up 600 feet along a winding staircase through a jungle of structural steel, a tiered sundeck at the very top where weary climbers can lounge on bleachers, and yes, the World’s Highest Ferris Wheel.
Observe This: Supposedly the two revolving restaurants won’t be serving soup because the tower’s swaying motion will turn attempts to eat it into a Charlie Chaplin routine.
Observe This: Supposedly the two revolving restaurants won’t be serving soup because the tower’s swaying motion will turn attempts to eat it into a Charlie Chaplin routine.
Shanghai World Financial Center
Shanghai, China
On the 100th floor of the Shanghai World Financial Center Observatory, the top tier of a three-layer observatory is 1,555 feet up and still the world’s highest. Architecture geeks will love it for the fact that it spans the building’s most distinctive feature, the rectangular cutout that makes the whole building resemble a giant bottle opener.
Observe This: Check out the elevator artwork by Toshio Iwai on the way up.
Grand Canyon Skywalk,
Arizona
Whose idea was this? Cantilevered way, way out over the Grand Canyon’s west rim, with the Colorado River some 4,000 feet below, this U-shaped glass bridge is arguably the world’s highest observation deck. It’s certainly the most mind-blowing one.
Observe This: Deck visitors have to don paper slippers over their shoes to keep from scuffing the glass.
Observe This: Deck visitors have to don paper slippers over their shoes to keep from scuffing the glass.
SkyTower, Auckland
New Zealand
Observe This: A similar Skywalk is available at the Sydney Tower in Australia, and the Macau Tower in China features bungee jumping.
