MRDV is a design group that put together this absolutely crazy roof extension in Rotterdam. I'm wondering how they managed to get planning permission for the blue monstrosity, as it just doesn't look right on the outside. Frankly, it doesn't look right on the inside either—check out those crazy floating stairs in the gallery below. My brain hurts. Still, you gotta love the architecture, even if the design does make your grey matter swell. [materialicious]
MVRDV Floating Stairs Don't Show You the Way
9:00 PM on Sun Apr 13 2008
By Haroon Malik
15,909 views
33 comments












Comments
Omg, freaking awesome
iPhones and stairs. Stairs and iPhones. References to each can always be found on the front page of Gizmodo.
Gary, my patio is blue,Gary!
@ltn
what? I have never seen the iStairs. when was that, did I miss something that one day I did not look at Giz? Never again!
steps are pretty sweet..
that outside patio is making me feel kinda... well.. blue.
I'm curious how you move furniture up there. :)
Nice.
where do they go? They go to that blue place? What does the top look like?
"What does the top look like? "
You can't see it from that angle, but they don't touch the ceiling either.
those are awesome stairs, I want them.
@TickleMeElmo: Uh, yeah, the 3rd pic has them touching the ceiling.
Yeah, thats sick.
haha, i live in rotterdam and this house is about is 2 blocks down the street i live on. its pretty goofy. from the street all you see is this giant blue pitched roof.
Actually, I think it's absoluty great ;-)
I live across the street and wake up to the view of this blue house every morning. To me it's like a piece of art in the street, and another nice feature for Rotterdam.
I've lived in The Netherlands for a bit, and within Amsterdam and Rotterdam crazy stairs are not a problem as the movers are experts at getting stuff in through the window. These are cities where having a grand piano fall on your head is an entirely logical possibility. Only the Dutch are extremely careful and efficient and probably won't let it happen. =)
Oh, and they are slaves to eccentric architecture. They love it as much as the Danes adore interior design.
@Kahani: yep to the crazy stairs. But the stairs in the entranceways of town houses (at least in den Haag) are so impossibly steep even I (40 years, motorically functional) am intimidated time and again by having to climb or, worse, descend them. I cannot begin to comprehend how a 75-year-old with poor eyesight and and limited motor abilities will do either.
i live on the third floor, i have 3 of these winding stair cases to ascend and descend every day, i've even fallen a few times rushing to work, and im 24.
@jo3: Suggestion - take the money from your Health Savings Account and use it to pay an architect and a contractor to replace your spiral staircases with traditional staircases.
Your back and hips will thank you. Aesthetics are good; not having 6 herniated discs impinging on your thecal sac is better.
@OMG! Ponies!:
Amen, brother.
@jo3: just make one of those stairs a slide, like at Google Zurich.
@OMG Ponies!, problem is i am an architect, but an incredibly under paid one, so renovation is out of the question.
once hoverboards become a reality ill be set.
Ahh, the brightly-colored outdoor surface. Guaranteed to look post-apocalyptic within 3-5 years. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
@OMG! Ponies!: I don't want anything impinging on my sac.
Holding my sac, yes, but nothing that sounds painful.
Those stairs would be perfect for screwing with your drunk (or stoned) friends! "Dude, where's your bathroom?" "It's upstairs" Watch the hilarity ensue...:D
@SgtMac02: Oh wait. Sorry, I looked at the pic wrong. At first I thought those stairs didn't actually go anywhere. It looked kinda MC Escher-esque...until I viewed the gallery. Oh well.
the blue top frickin' sucks... Who thought that looked good?
I'd be afraid of fucking myself up trying to attempt those stairs drunk.
@IrisMR: The designers on Trading Spaces.
I enjoy crazy stairs as much as the next guy, but this isn't exactly gadget related. Time for a Gizmarchitecture spin off?
I enjoy the stair's....but the blue space on top was not a good decision.
Probably at night the blue space looks better. Nah, it doesn't.
That's ill.
isn't rotterdam the place where BEAN was an orphan?!
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