Any inmate of Piranesi's Carceri would wander the building without ever grasping the whole or seeing outside of the structure. Escape is impossible, (as Tafuri reminds those who would try to build utopia in an imperfect world) but the numberless bridges and passageways provide endless possibilities, uncanny connections, and a journey that never ends.

The infinite building presents an image very different from that of an empty Cartesian volume stretching in all directions. The symbol for infinity, here interpreted as a Moebius structure by M. C. Escher, itself suggests a closed structure folding back on itself, into itself.