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:
“The highway presents an interesting study of American roadside advertising. There are signs that turn like windmills; startling signs that resemble crashed airplanes; signs with glass lettering which blaze forth at night when automobile headlight beams strike them; flashing neon signs; signs painted with professional touch; signs crudely lettered and misspelled.... They extol the virtues of ice creams, shoe creams, cold creams;...”
—For the State of Florida, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Because humans are not alone in exhibiting such behavior—bees stockpile royal jelly, birds feather their nests, mice shred paper—it’s possible that a pregnant woman who scrubs her house from floor to ceiling [just before her baby is born] is responding to a biological imperative . . . . Of course there are those who believe that . . . the burst of energy that propels a pregnant woman to clean her house is a perfectly natural response to their mother’s impending visit.”
—Mary Arrigo (20th century)