The forecourt of the Chamber of Labour is dominated by a flight of steps leading to the main entrance that divides this area into two separate parts.
This stairs is interpreted as the most urban building block in the design of the square and thus transformed. A new landmark is created out of an architectural element that evokes hierarchy and authority. It now stands for an "open" institution. The parts now blended together create a zone to linger in, a place of encounter. All functional requirements such as disabled ramp and the bus stop are integrated in a landscape of the stairs made up of a staircase mountain and a sinking stairs. By "exaggerating " its qualities an ambivalent element is created that subverts the previously mono-functional quality and allows the area to be used in a variety of ways.
A stairs is a stairs is a stairs? "Space is not an object but a social form" – Henri Lefebvre
