The public can never get enough of death-defying diversions, from flagpole sitters in the 1920s to today’s ever-crazier rollers coasters. The last two “Mission Impossible” movies—which featured Tom Cruise actually scaling the outside of the Burj Khalifi and hanging onto the wing of a jet in flight—combined did nearly $1.4 billion in box office sales internationally. And one of the attractions of “extreme” sports and recreation is that the participants live to tell about it.
Thrill-seekers who happen to be in Shanghai can now literally live on the edge by dangling off of a safety rope from a 3.9-foot-wide skywalk with a see-through platform that wraps around the 88th floor of the Jin Mao Tower in Lujiazui, a peninsula locality in that metropolis.
The 60-meter (197-foot) skywalk is touted as the highest fenceless and all-transparent walkway in the world. At 1,115 feet above ground, the skywalk, which opened on July 29, provides breathtaking views of the city from a tower that is one of the world’s tallest skyscrapers.
For the equivalent of US$58, visitors can spend up to 60 minutes in the open air, taking in Shanghai's modern cityscape. Image: 163.com via Mashable
Up to 15 visitors at a time can be harnessed to an overhead rail, and hang 10 over the ledge of the Jin Mao walkway for up to an hour. (They must sign waivers as a prerequisite, of course.) The height of the skywalk and time allowed on it outdo Macao Tower Skywalk X, which lets visitors take a 15- to 20-minute open-air stroll around the outer rim of the Macao Tower, 233 meters above the ground, according to China.org.
Skywalkers pay 388 yuan (US$58) for the Jin Mao attraction, with a discounted rate (298 yuan) for students.
An aerial view of the 420.5-meter-tall Jin Mao Tower, one of the world's tallest skyscrapers. Image: BU BIAN/Imagine China/AP
The 402.5-meter-tall Jin Mao Tower, designed by architect Adrian Smith, was completed in 1999, according to the Wall Street Journal. It’s owned by Jinmao Hotel and Jinmao (China) Investments and Mana
Related Stories
| Mar 11, 2011
Community sports center in Nashville features NCAA-grade training facility
A multisport community facility in Nashville featuring a training facility that will meet NCAA Division I standards is being constructed by St. Louis-based Clayco and Chicago-based Pinnacle.
| Mar 11, 2011
Slam dunk for the University of Nebraska’s basketball arena
The University of Nebraska men’s and women’s basketball programs will have a new home beginning in 2013. Designed by the DLR Group, the $344 million West Haymarket Civic Arena in Lincoln, Neb., will have 16,000 seats, suites, club amenities, loge, dedicated locker rooms, training rooms, and support space for game operations.
| Feb 23, 2011
London 2012: What Olympic Park looks like today
London 2012 released a series of aerial images that show progress at Olympic Park, including a completed roof on the stadium (where seats are already installed), tile work at the aquatic centre, and structural work complete on more than a quarter of residential projects at Olympic Village.
| Jan 21, 2011
Sustainable history center exhibits Fort Ticonderoga’s storied past
Fort Ticonderoga, in Ticonderoga, N.Y., along Lake Champlain, dates to 1755 and was the site of battles in the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. The new $20.8 million, 15,000-sf Deborah Clarke Mars Education Center pays homage to the French magasin du Roi (the King’s warehouse) at the fort.
| Jan 20, 2011
Houston Dynamo soccer team plans new venue
Construction is scheduled to begin this month on a new 22,000-seat Major League Soccer stadium for the Houston Dynamo. The $60 million project is expected to be ready for the 2012 MLS season.
| Jan 20, 2011
Construction begins on second St. Louis community center
O’Fallon Park Recreation Complex in St. Louis, designed by local architecture/engineering firm KAI Design & Build, will feature an indoor aquatic park with interactive water play features, a lazy river, water slides, laps lanes, and an outdoor spray and multiuse pool.
| Nov 16, 2010
Brazil Olympics spurring green construction
Brazil's green building industry will expand in the coming years, spurred by construction of low-impact venues being built for the 2016 Olympics. The International Olympic Committee requires arenas built for the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro meet international standards for low-carbon emissions and energy efficiency. This has boosted local interest in developing real estate with lower environmental impact than existing buildings. The timing couldn’t be better: the Brazilian government is just beginning its long-term infrastructure expansion program.
| Nov 3, 2010
Park’s green education center a lesson in sustainability
The new Cantigny Outdoor Education Center, located within the 500-acre Cantigny Park in Wheaton, Ill., earned LEED Silver. Designed by DLA Architects, the 3,100-sf multipurpose center will serve patrons of the park’s golf courses, museums, and display garden, one of the largest such gardens in the Midwest.
