A glass floor is a transparent section of a floor, found most often in buildings (usually in the observation decks of towers) or boats in order to facilitate viewing directly beneath where one is standing.
Usually made of a reinforced glass, the most common use is as a tourist attraction. Glass-bottom boats are popular for allowing a better view into the water. Glass as a flooring material is used in both residential and commercial structures. Special hollow glass blocks known as glass pavers are often used in combination with a metal frame.
At 4000 feet (1219 m), the highest glass floor above ground is the novel outdoor application of the Grand Canyon Skywalk, operated by the Hualapai Indian tribe. The highest above ground level in a freestanding structure is in the CN Tower in Toronto, Ontario at 1122 feet (342 m).
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Famous quotes containing the words glass and/or floor:
“I must sojourn once to the ballot-box before I die. I hear the ballot-box is a beautiful glass globe, so you can see all the votes as they go in. Now, the first time I vote I’ll see if the woman’s vote looks any different from the rest—if it makes any stir or commotion. If it don’t inside, it need not outside.”
—Sojourner Truth (c. 1797–1883)
“The distant box is open. A sound of grain
Poured over the floor in some eagerness we
Rise with the night let out of the box of wind.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)