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Saturday 23 January 2016

China Architech: Crossing the new glass bridges [PHOTOS]



For some in China the sky does not need to be the limit, especially when you can build a glass-bottomed suspension bridge across it.


Tourism sites in the central Henan and Hunan provinces have been constructing vertigo-inducing sky-walks in a bid to attract visitors.
And it seems to have worked, attracting thrill-seeking tourists and locals, all wanting a chance to experience a bird's eye view of the Chinese countryside. "You look down and feel a sense of fear, but you quickly recover from that and
enjoy the scenery,"

"It was beautiful, almost as if one was walking on air."
The fully transparent bridge, which measures 300m long (984ft) and 180m high, first opened to the public in September. It is one of the more popular bridges, with events - like mass yoga displays - often being staged on it.

Local officials say that glass panels were designed to withstand high winds and earthquakes, as well as the "weight of 800 visitors". Glass bridge fever has also spread to neighboring Taiwan, where a 179m-high bridge opened in Nantou county.
Construction on the latest bridge, touted as the world's longest glass-bottomed walkway, is also nearing completion. Standing at 300m high and stretching 375m, the bridge will hang above the Zhangjiajie grand canyon, also in Hunan province.

"The steel structures beneath it are incredibly dense, so even if the glass breaks, visitors won't fall through."
But architects of the bridge said that such glass bridges were often "primarily a novelty, built as visitor attractions rather than commuter bridges".
Architect Keith Brownlie, who was involved in a glass bridge for The London Science Museum, said that the appeal was "thrill".

"In architecture, glass has always been associated with luxury and often as a display of wealth," said bridge designer Ezra Groskin.
"Glass floor panels, used in the creation of invisible architecture, are not a new phenomenon. However its use is often restricted due to cost and practicality."
But how safe are China's glass bridges?

An incident in October sent terrified visitors fleeing in fear after part of a glass sky-walk in Henan province's Yuntai Mountain Geological Park cracked, despite only being open for two weeks.

Park officials closed the walkway immediately, later saying there was "no reason for worry" and that the cracks had "no impact on safety".

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