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:
“They are, as it were, train-bearers in the pageant of life, and hold a glass up to humanity, frailer than itself. We see ourselves at second-hand in them: they show us all that we are, all that we wish to be, and all that we dread to be.... What brings the resemblance nearer is, that, as they imitate us, we, in our turn, imitate them.... There is no class of society whom so many persons regard with affection as actors.”
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830)
“Don’t you know there are 200 temperance women in this county who control 200 votes. Why does a woman work for temperance? Because she’s tired of liftin’ that besotted mate of hers off the floor every Saturday night and puttin’ him on the sofa so he won’t catch cold. Tonight we’re for temperance. Help yourself to them cloves and chew them, chew them hard. We’re goin’ to that festival tonight smelling like a hot mince pie.”
—Laurence Stallings (1894–1968)