Spiral Staircases

A look at history vs today

Spiral staircases exist, it seems, at both extremes of history. For today's fashion-conscious yuppy, its open plan, wrought iron structure twists ever higher into his domain, master of all it surveys, a window into a material world of soft, plush carpets, pristine sofas and glass tables. Contrast this with the dark, cold, grey staircases of old, hidden away in dank nooks and crannies of ancient fortresses and castles, each step holding its own story. These too wind upward and onward, but to a different destination. One leads to an Ikea-furnished landing, the other to a windswept rampart, looking out onto the lands below, once the property of the master of the castle. Both standing at the ends of history, both looking into the material world, both calling us to lift ourselves higher than the view beneath us.



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