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The Elastic Perspective

Designed by NEXT Architects, The Elastic Perspective is a giant circular stair based on the principle of the Moebius strip for a local art plan in Barendrecht, the Netherlands, that appears like a rusty steel ring gently draped upon a grass hill.

The Elastic Perspective is 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 presents the end or the start of a journey, the route of the stairway is endless.

NEXT architects designed the stair for a local art plan commissioned by the municipality of Barendrecht. Because of its structure, the shape of the object is hard to perceive; every perspective generates a new image with which the design is not only a contextual but also a very literal answer to the given context of the local art plan: an Elastic Perspective.

Based on the principle of the Moebius strip, the continuous route of the stair is a delusion: “We are intrigued by the Moebius strip, by its characteristic of having only one surface, no top nor bottom. When used as a path, it suggests a continuity, but crossing that path is – at least physically – impossible. It’s that kind of ambiguity that we recognized in the inhabitants of this suburb: mentally they still feel very much connected to their mother town Rotterdam, but in daily life they are definitively disconnected. With the Moebius strip stair we offer them a glimpse towards the Rotterdam skyline, but to continue their trip, they have to turn backwards, facing the context of their everyday life, Carnisselande.” Explains the architect.