Courthouse's Glass Staircase Clearly Not Designed With Ladies' Skirts In Mind

By Margaret Hartmann  |  June 9, 2011 | 3:18pm
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Apple stores have brought plenty of good things, like free internet kiosks and the security that the dude declaring our pricey devices unfixable is a “genius.” However, their futuristic, transparent design (as seen above in a New York store) may have created a monster. Thanks to an effort to emulate Apple’s look, an Ohio courthouse now features a staircase that lets everyone peek up women’s skirts.

The Franklin County Common Pleas Courthouse, which opened Monday, cost $105 million, but apparently no one considered what the view would be like when people walked up the long staircase from the first to the second floor, which features clear glass panels between the steps. Now Judge Julie M. Lynch is warning women to take the elevator. “I wear dresses because that’s my personal choice,” Lynch told 10TV News. “When you stand under the stairwell, you can see right up through them … How can you open a brand new building and not take in consideration half the population?”

Jim Zorn of Stutzki Engineering, which has done consulting for Apple, tells the Columbus Dispatch that the tech company made glass staircases trendy, but most engineers have learned to use opaque glass to solve the skirt issue. Recently Ohio State University considered a glass staircase in its main library, but ultimately decided to go translucent both for modesty, and because the illusion of standing on nothing scares the hell out of people.

As for the courthouse, the Dispatch reports:

For now, security guards have been told to keep an eye out for people craning their necks. If the design becomes a problem, the county can adjust the glass to make it less transparent, but officials are hoping not to disrupt the artistic integrity of the building.

Well, that sounds reasonable. You wouldn’t want to interfere with the “artistic integrity” of the staircase just so some ladies can comfortably use it to get from one floor to another.

Women Warned About Glass Staircase At New Courthouse [10TV News]
New Courthouse’s Glass Stairs Draw Concerns Of ‘Peeping’ [Columbus Dispatch]

 
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