M.C. Escher fans, rejoice: You can now stay inside a hotel that brings the artist’s trippy visual illusions to life through its interior design.
The hotel, called The Other Place in Guilin, China, tapped Chinese architecture firm Studio 10 to renovate two guestrooms in Escher’s style–and the photos don’t disappoint. Images show staircases coming out of the walls, making it hard to tell the difference between the floor and ceiling. One room, called Dream, is painted faint colors like pale pink, minty green, and white, while the other, called Maze, is a vibrant forest green with gold accents. Stairs sprout from the walls of both rooms, leading nowhere. Each feels like the iconic game Monument Valley, incarnate.
To ensure that the spaces feel as otherworldly as possible, the architects hid all of the practical elements of each room–like outlets and light switches–behind small doors. Opening one might make you feel like you’re in Wonderland, even if it only reveals the mini fridge.
The spaces feel almost as though they were built for Instagram. It’s certainly not the first space that’s designed to look good on on social media; see the many other projects, from treehouses and luxurious glamping tents to other tiny hotels that play into the same trend. Tourism is being reduced to getting the gram, which has proven destructive for some natural places that are now swarming with people on their phones. There are even New York City lofts specially made for influencer photo shoots.
As for The Other Places’s architectural optical illusions, the space itself probably doesn’t feel as confusing as it looks in images. But for all those Instagram-scrollers with wanderlust, this hotel certainly seems like the perfect place to escape reality.
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