A concrete staircase in morning light, long shadows of railings across the steps.
completed

The Staircase Project

A 12-month study of public staircases in Accra — architecture as social record.

The Staircase Project ran from January to December 2023. Flow Mensah photographed 47 public staircases across Greater Accra — from the ceremonial steps of Independence Square to the crumbling concrete of 1970s housing blocks in Tema. The brief was simple: every staircase that exists between the street and somewhere else.

Steep concrete steps leading up a hillside, weathered railings casting diagonal shadows, afternoon light.
Housing Block 7, Tema Community 2, April 2023

Staircases are transitional architecture. They are designed to be passed through, not stopped in. Which means they accumulate the evidence of use differently from rooms — the worn step, the handprint on the wall at the turn, the makeshift repair. The Staircase Project treats these marks as a record of the people who used the stairs without knowing they were being documented.

Looking down a spiral staircase from above, geometric pattern of steps, deep shadow at the centre.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Accra, August 2023

The project culminated in a 48-page limited-edition publication, of which 200 copies were produced. The book is sold out. Selected prints remain available in the archive's catalogue.