An artist's concept of people walking across the glass bridge high above the Zhangjiajie canyon in China. The glass bridge spans 370 m (1,214 ft), but who will be doing the window or glass cleaning? |
World's longest glass bridge set to open in China next year: In a bid to attract more tourists to the region, Hunan Province in China has commissioned the architectural firm of Haim Dotan to produce a completely transparent glass bridge spanning 370 m (1,214 ft) across the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon. Dizzyingly high at about 400 m (1,312 ft) above the canyon floor, the span is claimed to be capable of holding up to 800 people at a time.
Dizzyingly high at about 400 m (1,312 ft) above the canyon floor, the glass bridge will carry up to 800 people at a time. |
China seems to be enamoured with terrifyingly high, world-beating glass structures. Gizmag recently detailed the world's longest glass-bottomed cantilever skywalk in Longgang National Geological Park, Chongqing, for example, which extends 26.64 m (87.4 ft) over a straight drop of 718m (2,356ft), making it some 5 m (16 ft) longer than the Grand Canyon Skywalk in Arizona. The Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon glass bridge continues this trend of oneupmanship.
The glass bridge is touted to be a "Wonder of the World" by the Hunan Province. |
Funded in part by the Tourism investment cooperation meeting at the Central China Expo in 2012, and slated for opening some time next year, the glass bridge is touted as a "Wonder of the World" by Hunan Province. Set to be constructed between the summits either side of the canyon, the deceptively fragile-looking structure will also have an added thrill for those that find the idea of walking across a sheer drop on a see-through bridge too tame.. a bungee jump. To be located in the middle of the structure, the bungee jump is also said to be another world-first for Hunan province as the highest bungee on the planet, at around 60 m (197 ft) or so higher than the current highest commercial bungee of 233 m (764 ft) on the Macau Tower.
1 comment:
Oh man, I'm deathly afraid of heights, so I probably can't even walk across this! I feel bad for the people who have to clean it, I mean it's a giant glass bridge! I might just go to this bridge for the thrills, definitely looks gorgeous and fun! http://fandrinteriors.com/
Post a Comment