Panoramic Elevator
Introduction
A panoramic elevator or panoramic elevator is an elevator that has at least one side of glass, thus allowing you to contemplate the views outside.[1] Due to the views they offer, sometimes from considerable heights, some of these elevators have become tourist attractions.[1][2].
History
The first two panoramic elevators in history were installed in the central courtyard, covered by a skylight, of the Bradbury Building in Los Angeles, a five-story building, an example of iron architecture. These elevators had open metal "cage" designs and were surrounded by wrought iron railings.[3] Soon, elevators in the imposing entrance lobbies of apartment buildings, bank headquarters, and office buildings became symbols of wealth and power.[4]
However, as new, faster solid elevator shaft construction methods were adopted, passenger views from elevators became progressively smaller and the use of glass and decorative elements in elevators disappeared. For more than half a century, people moved in elevators at increasingly higher speeds but without views, although in some cases their finishes were very elaborate. The norm, however, was the use of metal panels—stainless steel, brass or bronze—or painted, and sometimes wooden panels or mirrors. A notable exception to this trend was the Johnson Wax headquarters in Racine (Wisconsin), designed in 1936 by Frank Lloyd Wright, in which circular panoramic elevators were used to communicate with the galleries of the "great work room."[4][5].
The revival of panoramic elevators occurred in the 1960s. In 1962 architect John Portman incorporated panoramic elevators in the design of the revolutionary twenty-two-story high atrium of the Hyatt Regency hotel in Atlanta (Georgia "Georgia (United States)"), which opened in 1967 and has had a powerful influence on hotel design ever since.[4][6].
In the 1980s, the use of panoramic elevators that "climb" the wall increased. “Cage” and “plunger” designs fell out of fashion, except in hotels, shopping malls, and speculative commercial developments, where standardized corporate design policies were used. At this time of the rise of high-tech architecture, the "honest" approach to engineering was in vogue, according to which elevator components had to be made visible and their function highlighted.[4] Starting in the mid-1980s, panoramic elevators had a very high percentage of glass on all visible surfaces of the cabin. Old work methods were rediscovered and computer technologies were introduced in the control and design processes.[4].