I stumbled across this photo last week and was completely awestruck. The powder room in the penthouse of this 1970s Mexican colonial-style building features a glass-bottomed floor over an abandoned 15-story elevator shaft!
Designed by Guadalajara-based studio Hernandez Silva Arquitectos, the Penthouse is located in Guadalajara, Jalisco, México. The original design of the building included a second elevator which was never installed, and there came the idea for the glass-bottomed bathroom.
See more photos of the powder room and the rest of the Penthouse at Home DSGN. What do you think? Any takers?
(Images by Hernandez Silva Arquitectos via Home DSGN.)
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Is that good feng shui?
I wonder whether the lights in the shaft can be controlled by someone outside the bathroom. What a way to deal with your guests who have, shall we say, over imbibed!
It would be hilarious if there were an apartment above them who did the same thing...
I think this is just a little too clever.
@MSCHATELAINE
Just like the 2 story outhouse in the good ole days
That would give me vertigo.
NO EFFING WAY.
Not being able to see the bottom of something completely freaks me out in a totally irrational way. Bottomless oceans, bottomless pits. I would cover this whole thing up with a rug asap.
Deepest fears aside however, this is pretty awesome.
That's a completely ridiculous bathroom. Despite the safety of structural glass, a view down 15 floors is a lot more unnerving that a view down 12-20 feet. By the way, who changes the underfloor light bulbs that shine down in the shaft?
This is freaking me out. There's no way I'd be able to step into this bathroom.
very clever design, but, I'd rather hold it...
I can barely look at that photo without starting to freak out.
I also wonder if the owner of the penthouse owns the rights to the property located at the bottom of the shaft. Otherwise, they might have to deal with curious people looking up the shaft (if there is a doorway or something located at the bottom of the shaft).
oooooh --- just looking at that makes me sick!
It would scare the crap out of me.
exactly what REINDEERMOSS said
don't look down, what about don't look up!
As a person afraid of heights, just this photo terrifies me. I would never be able to pee in there.
This gives a whole new meaning of "peeing in your pants"...
what the article doesn't mention is that the toilet is just a hole in the glass floor
The thought of stepping in that bathroom makes me queasy.
@KKKKaren No, it's not good feng shui. Pay attention to your feelings when deciding if something is or isn't good feng shui. The majority of posters here mentioned negative feelings. That definitely would impact the overall feng shui of the design. There are other reasons. This bathroom has way too much water element: the obvious (it's a bathroom with 3 drainage areas), the mirror which represents water, the glass floor also represents water. The elevator shaft is a huge drain of ch'i energy. This bathroom is the pits! :)
Oh goodness. That just makes me nauseous!
World's most terrifying bathroom? Check!
nope.
"I stumbled across this photo last week....."
Any reason why you didn't stumble on it yesterday? Here? On AT?
going against almost all other comments, this is as AWESOME bathroom. well done!
Amazing, but it makes my knees ache with vertigo just looking at the picture. Not a chance in hell.
For the first time ever, I can see the argument for carpet in a bathroom.
Reindeermoss and Edmundd you are brilliant.
I second the hole (misspelling/pun intended) way too scared sentiment. Just the photo makes my heart race.
i, too, am very curious as to how the light bulbs under the glass get changed.
and i don't have a fear of heights at all. i think it's kinda rad.
@Edmundd --are you sure that the toilet drains into the shaft? I assumed that the pipe from the john was directed towards the wall in back of it. If you're correct, that makes this particularly disastrous feng shui. Yuck!
I LOVE IT.
I'm with Leigh, unlike everyone else, I LOVE this bathroom!!! Simply amazing.
Bahhaahaa! Hilarious! I think they should install a big phony lever on the outside of the door to give people the impression that at any moment someone might decide to "flush" them down a trap door. ;)
O M G NO!
That is freaking horrifying!
OK, it's funny, but not funny enough to post twice within a matter of days.
HOLY SHXX!
What will they think of next?!?!
im letting my hubby know bout this Post...he's into Ghosts and Zombies, anything awful and gross - think he'll love this v much
@fengshuibyfishgirl, hahaha, he was joking...that would be disgusting. I'm going with the minority and saying this bathroom is original and pretty damn awesome, never seen anything like it before.
A little too slick for my taste.
I'm not kidding: Just looking at the photo made my heart pound and palms sweat. The only other thing that does that is thinking about having to get on an airplane.
"Deepest fears aside however, this is pretty awesome." ~POSTED BY SWINGNCOCOA
Best comment, ever!
Seriously, this makes me not even want to go into an elevator; much less, to go in that bathroom!
The thought of being in this bathroom makes me breathless. Feels quite unsafe! I'm sure you'd get used to it though!
I think it's beautiful from a design stand point, but I'd never be able to set foot in there without fearing for my life. Kudos to the people who live with it every day.
WHY do this ?
No!
Should have gone all out with the gross-out / freak-out-itude and put a glass sewer pipe in the shaft, so you could watch your, um, business descend 15 floors to the ground...
Me no likey.
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should! Still, it's kind of awesome, in a "not for me" kind of way.
My guess is the lights are changed through an access panel in the room on the other side of the sink.
...that is the bathroom of an exceedingly cruel host =^0
Another thought: if this isn't on a hundred different demotovational's yet, I suspect that it will be soon.
I'd wet my pants first.
Good Lord, why?
LOVE IT!
Oh f- no. Absolutely not. First because I am terrified of heights, second because it looks like a secret entrance to a tomb in a pyramid and the mummy who lives down there would not think I was being very respectful, doing what the living do in a bathroom and then he'd try to get me and I'd never be able to go in there again.
No need for a toilet in here. Nothing would EVER come out.
Keep thinking... What if the glass breaks???
perfect guest bath - afterall we don't want them to get too comfortable and hang around indefinately.
I would absolutely wet my pants, which would conveniently eliminate the immediate need for the bathroom.
This is every bad dream I've ever had all rolled into one scene
It's great, but the toilet looks more cramped and uncomfortable than the view. Long life bulbs that turn on when the ceiling light turns on no doubt.
W O W!!!
No thanks.....even structural glass isn't as safe as a real floor. There's no way in hell I'd ever use that bathroom.
For that matter why have a bathroom door.
I pity the acrophobic house guest who must choose between avoiding their worst nightmare or emptying their bladder.
I suppose they have all that ample storage space for the large quanities of Windex and paper towels needed?
The really crazy part is that they have a soap dish with bar soap AND a container with liquid soap. Seriously, what were they thinking?
Looks like something Patrick Bateman (American Psycho) would have designed for his guests.
I just hope that they never have kids...can you imagine convincing a child to use the bathroom in this place?!
this is SO COOL! it would definitely make bathroom trips more exciting (except if you are dizzy)
there should be a rug on a hanger nearby to cover the floor in case some visitors are not ok with this, and there definitely will be some.
Oh, I've seen that before—it's the Turdis traveling through space and time from an episode of Dr. Poo.
I think it's cool, but I can't help wondering who else has rights/access to the shaft. I wouldn't want anyone else to be able to look up or down into my private space.
no, thanks
@swingcocoa - Me too! I would be freaked out by this bathroom, especially at night. Creepy
Seems like this could be replicated by using a 2 way mirror for the floor (mirror side down) and a mirror at the bottom of the cavern (which would really only need to be 1-2 feet deep). The image would reflect ad infinitum giving the illusion of an infinite abyss.
Oh H-e-l-l No!
It's cool to look at, but I'd never want that in my house. And my husband gets vertigo and the bathroom seems like a particularly bad place to experience that.
Also, except for the floor, it's a completely unexceptional bathroom.
I love it, I just hate the red tile
@BEE FOR BRIAN Funniest comment ever!
Not for those with vertigo, or those who drink.
Great place to put the toilet because if I had to go into that room, I'll be s***ing myself!
Ok, no way. Why not do away with the drain fixtures & have the toilet & sink simply flush down the shaft. That could make it interesting. Watching ones waste cascade down the walls. That would make more sense, because other than that why would one want to stand (or sit) & look down this abyss yet have the flushing water be hidden from sight? Hey, do away with the toilet altogether. Just have a hole cut in the glass floor like an outhouse... Ok, yeah. This is just ridiculous. What next, glass bottomed shower stalls over subway tunnels.
This would be really cool if it wasn't absolutely TERRIFYING.
@rexrayfan -- I don't think they'll have any worries......one sight of this for the guest who's afraid of elevators or heights will surely empty their bladder. They will just need a change of clothing.
@Bee for Bryan that was a joke right? I have a bar of soap and a pump container of hand cream...
Here's my thought -- if they don't own the space underneath, there could be problems when someone breaks through into the shaft to use in their apartment.
But if they DO own the space underneath, that's a lost opportunity for routing utilities, for adding a dumbwaiter, for a 15story fireman's ladder (JOKE), etc. Man, can you imagine a spiral-staircase wine celler 15 stories tall?
make that "cellar".
sigh. Need more coffee.
Pity the poor weak-hearted guest who runs into the darkened bathroom, turning on the light as s/he enters, and then has a coronary. This is a disaster waiting to happen.
Impressive but scary.
Yeah, no. As impressive as that feat is I could never ever use that bathroom. Irrational? yep, but so what. :)
I wouldn't even go in that bathroom. I'd be too freaked out.
OMG!!! Awesome idea, very innovative design but under no circumstances would I set a foot on that glass floor. I don't like open heights... they freak me right out..
I think the light in the shaft should be activated by sensors in the toilet. You have a squat and then, bam! The floor falls out from under you.
I think that makes me evil.
makes me think of the glass floor of the CN Tower in Toronto
http://blog.pilkingtonselfcleaningglass.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/cntower.jpg
Even though I have acrophobia, I just love it. I'm a great fan of architectural idiosyncrasies, and this one certainly ranks high on the list!
PS did nobody note that they also have a [presumably normal] powder room?
if you walk in & crap or pee yourself, you're still good
This just seems wrong. Scary. Crazy. Hope that glass floor is super duper strong. I live in earthquake country, and ...I can't even think about it. Insane.
just NOOOO... tooo scary.. *face palm*