On Top of The World – The Rise of The Obervation Deck

People have always wanted to climb higher and see farther. We’ve built towers and turrets, spires and steeples, lookouts and skyscrapers to see and to be seen. The achievement of height makes us proud and somehow secure. We can see all enemies from here. Our church is visible from everywhere. Our building is the tallest in the world.

There’s power and prestige in being high up but there’s also exhilaration. People want to go up, maybe even to be a bit scared, and they want to see far and wide.

A week doesn’t go by without us seeing at least one new observation deck, luxury tower, ski lift or lookout structure that meets those needs. The Stockholm Globe Arena, known as the Ericsson Globe, apparently the world’s largest round building, is not a new project, but we’ve grown fond of its brand-new addition: the cute little glass orbs that climb up the rounded skin of the structure. The pair of classic-looking orbs, called unimaginatively SkyView, carry 16 passengers each as they scale the Globe on rails operating based on ski-lift technology. The trip up takes three minutes and a round-trip visit takes 20 minutes.

The multi-use complex of the Globe includes a 16,000-seat arena that will host Lady Gaga, Whitney Houston and Rod Stewart among others this spring. Tuija Seipell

The Dachstein Sky Walk – Austria	Eureka Skydeck – Melbourne
The Stratosphere – Las Vegas	Aurland Lookout – Norway
House On The Rock – Wisconsin	Grand Canyon Skywalk
Top of Tyrol – Austria	Burj Khalifa- Dubai
Skydeck at Sears Tower – Chicago	Griffith Observatory – Los Angeles
i360 Tower at Brighton’s West Pier – UK	Langkawi Sky Bridge

And just opened this week in Singapore is Marina Bay Sands.