Numen/For Use combines "height and wobbliness" in net staircase for Linz gallery
Visitors to an Austrian museum transcend the exhibition space on a steep black staircase constructed from layers of net by design collective Numen/For Use (+ slideshow).
![Net Linz OK center for contemporary art Numen/For Use](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Net-Linz-OK-center-for-contemporary-art-Numen-For-Use_dezeen_468_6.jpg)
Numen/For Use designed the traversable installation, titled Net Linz, for the OK Center for Contemporary Art in Linz, Austria.
![Net Linz OK center for contemporary art Numen/For Use](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Net-Linz-OK-center-for-contemporary-art-Numen-For-Use_dezeen_468_15.jpg)
The Austrian design collective constructed the piece, which sees visitors "flying" several stories above the floor, in the gallery's narrow stairwell.
![Net Linz OK center for contemporary art Numen/For Use](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Net-Linz-OK-center-for-contemporary-art-Numen-For-Use_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
"The input was that the installation has to enable alternative staircase i.e. a structural appendix to the existing hardware of the building," said Numen/For Use co-founder Nikola Radeljkovic.
![Net Linz OK center for contemporary art Numen/For Use](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Net-Linz-OK-center-for-contemporary-art-Numen-For-Use_dezeen_468_17.jpg)
"The project is an evolution of previous Net installations, specially designed for the space given to us at OK house in Linz," he added.
![Net Linz OK center for contemporary art Numen/For Use](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Net-Linz-OK-center-for-contemporary-art-Numen-For-Use_dezeen_468_23.jpg)
The woven structure gently sways as climbers ascend the ravine-like space, bordered on one side by a raw concrete wall and on the other by the gallery's metal-framed staircase.
![Net Linz OK center for contemporary art Numen/For Use](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Net-Linz-OK-center-for-contemporary-art-Numen-For-Use_dezeen_468_20.jpg)
Numen/For Use have produced a number of installations using nets, but always on a horizontal plane. For this vertical construction the designers had to experiment with new types of tensioning to make the staircase safe for visitors.
![Net Linz OK center for contemporary art Numen/For Use](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Net-Linz-OK-center-for-contemporary-art-Numen-For-Use_dezeen_468_4.jpg)
"When you have people 'flying' eight metres above the floor and other visitors, you have to take safety seriously," said the designer, whose studio also created a web-like installation for the Belgian gallery Z33.
![Net Linz OK center for contemporary art Numen/For Use](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Net-Linz-OK-center-for-contemporary-art-Numen-For-Use_dezeen_468_8.jpg)
Applying the same principles to the net construction as a standard staircase, the designers constructed a five-metre-long 1:4 scale-model to test how the tension would be distributed before creating the piece.
![Net Linz OK center for contemporary art Numen/For Use](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Net-Linz-OK-center-for-contemporary-art-Numen-For-Use_dezeen_468_18.jpg)
"Since the physics of the structure work totally different in horizontal and vertical 'modes' we had to test the idea in larger and larger and larger models," said Radeljkovic.
![Net Linz OK center for contemporary art Numen/For Use](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Net-Linz-OK-center-for-contemporary-art-Numen-For-Use_dezeen_468_9.jpg)
The final structure was made from four layers of netting, suspended from the ceiling of the stairwell and tensioned by a series of weighted sand-bags.
![Net Linz OK center for contemporary art Numen/For Use](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Net-Linz-OK-center-for-contemporary-art-Numen-For-Use_dezeen_468_3.jpg)
Two columns of netting are tacked together, giving the piece a curved, sinuous outline. Portholes in the walls of the net-work connect the two channels allowing visitors to pick their route to the top.
![Net Linz OK center for contemporary art Numen/For Use](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Net-Linz-OK-center-for-contemporary-art-Numen-For-Use_dezeen_468_16.jpg)
"Since walking is rather uncomfortable because of the hardness of the net, we were concerned how people would react," said Radeljkovic.
![Net Linz OK center for contemporary art Numen/For Use](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Net-Linz-OK-center-for-contemporary-art-Numen-For-Use_dezeen_468_24.jpg)
"But the response was more than satisfactory – some even went up and down for hours. It's like this thrill of exposure to height and wobbliness suppressed the physical discomfort," he added.
![Net Linz OK center for contemporary art Numen/For Use](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Net-Linz-OK-center-for-contemporary-art-Numen-For-Use_dezeen_468_10.jpg)
Net Linz was on show at the OK Centre for Contemporary Art in Linz until 19 October.
![Net Linz OK center for contemporary art Numen/For Use](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Net-Linz-OK-center-for-contemporary-art-Numen-For-Use_dezeen_1.gif)