Charlotte Fernández
UKIMEA Press Office,Leeds
The Endless Stair is the landmark project for this year’s London Design Festival and will be sited on the lawn in front of the world-renowned Tate Modern museum on London’s South Bank.
The interactive installation is a series of interlocking timber staircases, which was inspired by the drawings of M.C. Escher. Endless Stair has a total of 187 steps and will be 7.7m high, approximately the same height as a three storey building. The structure will provide visitors with views of both the Tate Modern and the river Thames.
Arup is working in collaboration with dRMM on the design of the Endless Stair and is provided materials, fire and structural engineering services on the project.
“"Endless Stair has provided a great opportunity to apply pure engineering principles to a unique artistic installation, using a material that we firmly believe should be used in more mainstream buildings in the near future". Helen Groat, Senior Structural Engineer, Arup
“"Endless Stair is a temporary sculpture designed to be endlessly reconfigured. The programme of modern art and architecture, combined with the Thames panorama of London, provides a context to which dRMM's Escher-inspired installation can make a distinctive contribution". Professor Alex de Rijke, Director, dRMM
Arup's project team is being led by Adrian Campbell and supported by Arup's timber specialist Andrew Lawrence and director Ed Clark.
The Endless Stair will open to the public on 13 September for one month as part of the London Design Festival. First staged in 2003, the London Design Festival is now one of Europe’s most important annual design events.