Canada’s Glacier Skywalk Creates a Death-Defying Way to Experience Nature

Experiencing nature is a pretty straightforward undertaking—it requires little if any <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/technology">technological</a> intervention to take in all the grandeur the environment has to offer. But a hike into the depths of the forest is not what the architects at <a href="http://www.sturgessarchitecture.com/">Sturgess Architecture</a>created for visitors to the Canadian Rockies <a href="http://inhabitat.com/ian-macdonalds-meadow-house-melts-into-the-canadian-landscape/">Canada</a>. They took first place in a competition to design a new tourist attraction with their Discovery Walk: a sky-high design that suspends visitors thousands of feet above the earth upon a transparent walkway. The Glacier Skywalk is now open to the public, allowing visitors to observe Alberta from an entirely new perspective.

The skywalk offers views that many wouldn't have been able to see otherwise, unless they flew overhead in a plane or helicopter.

Overlooking the Sunwapta Valley along the Columbian Icefields in Alberta, Canada, the Discovery Walk is designed as an extension of the landscape.

Overall, the walk provides visitors with a <a href="http://inhabitat.com/shigeru-ban-develops-modular-shelter-for-japanese-displaced-by-earthquake/">shelter</a> against the elements, that also serves to astound them with what surrounds them.

How would you feel about looking down through this transparent walkway?

The walkway offers magnificent views of the Alberta Rockies.

Some may wonder whether this design is actually bringing individuals closer to the natural environment, or is it in fact creating another barrier.

As you can see from this rendering, the Glacier Skywalk looks just as the designers intended it.

Sure to be a challenge for those who suffer from vertigo, the Discovery Walk stretches far out to give views of the valley and glaciers below.

Another rendering that shows how the walkway winds along the mountainside.

While we won't argue with the dynamic design of the Discovery Walk, it does bring into question the use of <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/architecture">building</a> technology as a vehicle to experience nature.

One of the initial 3D renderings, showing a view from the skywalk from above.

The completed project may speaking greater volumes to the average tourist than the adventure seeker.

With views like this, the completed project may speaking greater volumes to the average tourist than the adventure seeker.