If you’ve ever wondered what Alice might have felt when she fell down the rabbit hole in Lewis Carroll’s legendary book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland then stepping into the new Dream and Maze guesthouses by Chinese architectural practice Studio 10 seems fitting. Stairs that defy logic, doors that lead to nowhere, and strangely located windows create spaces with infinite possibilities and imbue guests with a wondrous sense of otherworldliness. The two-bedroom residences are part of ‘The Other Place - Guilin Litopia', an imaginative project by the scenic Li River in Pingle County, China, that offers short-term accommodation in 10 unique themed guesthouses, each one designed according to a different concept such as Innocence, Peace, Light and Cloud.

Both the Dream and the Maze guesthouses have been inspired by the disorientating work of Dutch artist M. C. Escher whose iconic 'Relativity' lithograph breaks the laws of gravity. By incorporating and distorting stairs, doors and windows that serve no purpose other than to mislead, the designers have created “impossible spaces” that boggle the mind and overwhelm the senses. Moreover, by espousing an aesthetic of radical minimalism, where all fixtures from light fittings to electronic appliances have been concealed, and shaping all doors, windows and wardrobes into arches, they have further deepened the sensation of having stepped through the looking glass.