Hilltop staircase by NEXT Architects creates the illusion of an endless walkway
This hilltop staircase by Dutch firm NEXT Architects appears to create a continuous pathway, but it's actually impossible to walk round more than once without climbing off (+ slideshow).
![The Elastic Perspective by NEXT Architects](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/02/The-Elastic-Perspective-by-NEXT-Architects-_dezeen_7.jpg)
NEXT Architects designed the rusting steel structure for a grassy peak in Carnisselande, a suburb south of Rotterdam, where it provides a viewpoint overlooking the city skyline.
![The Elastic Perspective by NEXT Architects](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/02/The-Elastic-Perspective-by-NEXT-Architects-_dezeen_2.jpg)
Rather than designing a simple loop, the architects based the form of the structure on the single-surface volume of a Möbius strip. This means the surface of the pathway wraps around onto its underside, making it impossible to walk around the entire periphery.
![The Elastic Perspective by NEXT Architects](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/02/The-Elastic-Perspective-by-NEXT-Architects-_dezeen_1sq.jpg)
"Based on the principal of the Möbius strip, the continuous route of the stair is a delusion - upside becomes underside becomes upside," explained the architects. "The suggestion of a continuous route is therefore, in the end, an impossibility."
![The Elastic Perspective by NEXT Architects](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/02/The-Elastic-Perspective-by-NEXT-Architects-_dezeen_3.jpg)
The structure is built from pre-weathered Corten steel, giving it a vivid orange tone that contrasts with the bright green of the grass below.
![The Elastic Perspective by NEXT Architects](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/02/The-Elastic-Perspective-by-NEXT-Architects-_dezeen_4.jpg)
It was completed as part of a local art initiative entitled The Elastic Perspective.
![The Elastic Perspective by NEXT Architects](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/02/The-Elastic-Perspective-by-NEXT-Architects-_dezeen_8.jpg)
This isn't the first time NEXT Architects has used the Möbius as the basis for a design - the studio also recently unveiled plans for a wavy bridge in China with one continuous surface.
![The Elastic Perspective by NEXT Architects](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/02/The-Elastic-Perspective-by-NEXT-Architects-_dezeen_6.jpg)
Photography is by Sander Meisner.
Here's a project description from NEXT Architects:
The Elastic Perspective
A rusty steel ring is gently draped upon a grass hill in Carnisselande, a Rotterdam suburb. It's a giant circular stair leading the visitor up to a height that allows an unhindered view of the horizon and the nearby skyline of Rotterdam. The path makes a continuous movement and thereby draws on the context of the heavy infrastructural surrounding of ring road and tram track. While a tram stop represents the end or the start of a journey, the route of the stairway is endless.
![The Elastic Perspective by NEXT Architects](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/02/The-Elastic-Perspective-by-NEXT-Architects-_dezeen_5.jpg)
However, the continuity and endlessness have a double meaning. Based on the principal of the Möbius strip, the continuous route of the stair is a delusion - upside becomes underside becomes upside. It has only one surface and only one boundary. The suggestion of a continuous route is therefore, in the end, an impossibility.
![The Elastic Perspective by NEXT Architects](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/02/The-Elastic-Perspective-by-NEXT-Architects-_dezeen_11.gif)
The Elastic Perspective is a local art plan for which NEXT architects designed this stair. The project reflects on the ambiguous relationship of the inhabitants of the Rotterdam suburb Carnisselande with their mother-town, which is expressed in both attraction and repulsion. "The view on Rotterdam is nowhere better, then from Carnisselande" as one of the locals put it.
![The Elastic Perspective by NEXT Architects](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/02/The-Elastic-Perspective-by-NEXT-Architects-_dezeen_14.gif)
The circular stair offers the suburbians a view on the Rotterdam skyline – only a couple of kilometers ahead - but forces them to retrace their steps back into their suburban reality. Rotterdam, by tram just minutes away, but in perception and experience tucked behind infrastructure and noise barriers; far away, so close.
![The Elastic Perspective by NEXT Architects _dezeen_10](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/02/The-Elastic-Perspective-by-NEXT-Architects-_dezeen_10.gif)
Location: Carnisselande, Barendrecht NL
Client: Municipality of Barendrecht
Programme: Local Art plan
Design: NEXT architects, Amsterdam
Engineering: ABT consult, Velp
Contractor: Mannen van Staal, Leeuwarden
Budget: 150.000 euro