flexiblefullpage -
billboard - default
interstitial1 - interstitial
catfish1 - bottom
Currently Reading

LA's U.S. Bank Tower to build exterior glass slide leading from 70th to 69th floors

High-rise Construction

LA's U.S. Bank Tower to build exterior glass slide leading from 70th to 69th floors

The glass slide, part of a $50 million renovation project, will stretch 45 feet along the exterior of the building.


By David Malone, Associate Editor | March 3, 2016

Image courtesy OUE Skyspace LA

Observation decks with glass bottoms are all the rage. The Grand Canyon, Willis Tower, and Tower Bridge have all incorporated some sort of viewing deck with a glass bottom. It isn’t enough to just look out over a great expanse from up high anymore. Now, thrill seeking tourists want to be able to step out over vertigo-inducing heights and feel like a super hero floating above their city.

But a new glass bottom project in Los Angeles is looking to make floating in place in the sky passé and is upping the ante with a glass bottom structure that puts people in a more active role.

The U.S. Bank Tower, the tallest building in downtown Los Angeles, is getting ready to introduce tourists to the Skyslide: a 45-foot-long, four-foot-wide glass-bottomed slide suspended about 1,000 feet above the city streets on the exterior of the building.

For $8, customers will be able to enter the slide from the 70th floor and slide down to the observation deck on the 69th floor. The observation deck is the tallest open-air observation deck in California.

According to Overseas Union Enterprises Ltd, who owns the building, the slide is expected to open in June 2016. If glass bottom attractions already in place in other structures around the world are any indication, U.S. Bank Tower’s Skyslide is going to be very popular.

For more on the entire project, click here.

Related Stories

Mixed-Use | May 23, 2017

45-story tower planned for Miami Worldcenter

Pickard Chilton Architects will design the 600,000-sf 110 10th Street.

High-rise Construction | May 23, 2017

Goettsch Partners to design three-building Optics Valley Center complex

The Chicago-based firm won a design competition to design the complex located in Wuhan, China.

High-rise Construction | May 15, 2017

Construction begins on 47-story luxury tower in Chicago’s South Loop

The glass tower is being built at 1326 S. Michigan Avenue.

High-rise Construction | Apr 26, 2017

Dubai’s newest building is a giant gilded picture frame

Despite currently being under construction, the building is the center of an ongoing lawsuit filed by the architect.

3D Printing | Apr 17, 2017

The Tokyo Pod Vending Machine resembles a giant game of Tetris in the sky

The building is designed to print and dispense its own dwellings in vending machine-obsessed Tokyo.

Green | Apr 11, 2017

Passivhaus for high-rises? Research demonstrates viability of the stringent standards for tall residential buildings

A new study conducted by FXFOWLE shows that Building Teams can meet stringent Passivhaus performance standards with minimal impact to first cost and aesthetics.

Mixed-Use | Apr 5, 2017

SOM-designed ‘vertical village’ is Thailand’s largest private-sector development ever

60,000 people will live and work in One Bangkok when it is completed in 2025.

High-rise Construction | Apr 4, 2017

Fifth tallest tower in the world opens in Seoul with the world’s highest glass-bottomed observation deck

Lotte World Tower’s glass-bottomed observation deck allows visitors to stand 1,640 feet above ground and look straight down.

High-rise Construction | Mar 31, 2017

Ping An Finance Center officially becomes the fourth tallest building in the world

The completed building sits between the Makkah Royal Clock Tower at 1,972 feet and One World Trade Center at 1,776 feet.

High-rise Construction | Mar 27, 2017

Density and tall buildings

CRTKL’s Maren Striker examines Europe’s desire to build upward.

boombox1 - default
boombox2 -
native1 -

More In Category




halfpage1 -

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021