Each year, in Ryfylke, Norway, more than 200,000 travelers trek up to a steep cliff overlooking the Lysefjord valley. At some 1,980 feet above sea level, the views from Preikestolen—or Pulpit Rock—are as dizzying as they are breathtaking. In recent years, the number of tourists visiting the landmark has spiked, leading local experts to create safer routes to the peak while ensuring safe viewing at the top of the cliff as well. In an effort to reimagine the high-altitude attraction, a contest by Rethinking Architecture—a group of young architects dedicated to reinventing spaces with exciting concepts—was recently put in motion to find a design for a new observation deck atop Pulpit Rock.

The winning entry was Fragile, a design by Australian architect Rick Chen—but it was another submission that generated the most buzz. In an attempt to combine art with architecture, Germany-based Fly Architecture’s proposed F010 Eye of Rock. The concept resembles a massive melting eye—a design based on Salvador Dalí’s famous painting The Persistence of Memory (1931).

The observation deck would be enclosed by specially coated glass that could also display information such as the current weather.

Made with aluminum and glass, Fly Architecture’s design would be carved into the cliff, allowing for multiple rows of stepped seating. The glass covering the melting eye would be constructed with a special coating (or augmented-reality technology) that lets the material function as a screen, displaying facts like the local weather. What’s more, the space could then double as a movie theater, one in which viewers would hike to the top to watch a film from nearly 2,000 feet in the air.

Pulpit Rock, a popular tourist attraction in Norway.

Although Fly Architecture’s proposal did not earn the top honor, the firm hopes other competitions and contractors realize the potential of its glass-enclosed design and augmented-reality technology.