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103 floors up, Chicago's renovated Skydeck reopens at Willis Tower

2021-04-23T15:25:00-04:00

Three years in the making, the renovated Skydeck Chicago is reopening Friday for public tours of the 45,000-square-foot space that has undergone a multimillion-dollar renovation the general manager calls “part Chicago museum, part selfie museum, part architectural river tour and part children’s museum.”

A design collaboration of SOM, Thinc Design, and Chicago Scenic Studios, the re-envisioned Skydeck experience on Willis Tower's 103rd floor (of 110 in total) reopened to the public today.

Photo © Dave Burk | SOM

"In creating the new Skydeck, we wanted to honor the structural clarity and simplicity of the tower’s original design approach," explains SOM Design Partner Scott Duncan. "We wanted to create a quiet backdrop for people to be fully immersed in the city’s skyline and allow the view to speak for itself."

Photo © Dave Burk | SOM

Chicago's Willis Tower to get $20 million expansion of the hair-raising Skydeck

2017-03-28T19:04:00-04:00

Not for the faint of heart, the Blackstone Group is planning on expanding the Skydeck, the popular observatory on the 103rd floor of the Willis Tower, according to Chicago Business. The skyscraper, still commonly referred to as the Sears Tower, was the tallest building in the world for nearly 25 years before being overbuilt by the Petronas Towers. The new owners acquired the space in 2015 for $1.3 billion, the highest price every paid for a US property outside of New York City, and are considering ways to further develop the property.

In 2009, the building then held by London-based insurance broker Willis Group, added retractable glass balconies. This panic-inducing attraction extends approximately 4 feet out into the sky, allowing those who dare the ability to stand 1,353 feet in the sky from a glass box referred to as The Ledge. Building on this popular attraction, the fresh proprietors of the tower are considering a $20 million expansion. With glass-bottomed attractions popping u...

Glass Cracks Below Tourists in Chicago Skydeck

2014-05-29T13:30:00-04:00

In what could have been a nightmare come true, part of the glass floor in a viewing box high above Chicago cracked right below a group of California tourists. [...] Alejandro Garibay and his family were taking in the sights at Chicago's Willis Tower on Wednesday night. The tower's Skydeck, which opened in 2009, is on the 103rd floor, about 1,353 feet above Chicago's downtown. [...] While on the glass, Garibay heard cracking.