First Prize: 3D Schröder Staircase (Kokichi Sugihara)
If you ever checked out a book on optical illusions from your local library as a kid, you probably saw the classic Schröder’s stairs illusion: a 2D illustration of zig-zag lines that creates the appearance of a staircase descending from left to ride, or a staircase flipped upside-down, depending on how your brain is processing it. Sugihara managed to recreate the illusion as a 3D model with a staircase that always appears to descend from left to right, even when it’s spin 180 degrees around.
