Stair crazy

Custom Home, Jan-Feb, 2003 by Shelley D. Hutchins

Form, function, comfort, and style aren't the only considerations that go into staircase design. Stringent building codes add another layer of complexity to this essential home element. For a designer, stairs offer an opportunity to flaunt that elusive skill of mixing imagination with mandates, says San Francisco-based architect Mark English. "Watching someone move up or down a staircase presents important moments that you can choreograph. It's all about the person moving through space and providing them with drama."

People Power

"One thing we always try to do is build something that will make people smile," explains architect Michael Rosenfeld. A stair railing of swaying painted steel figures definitely causes occupants and guests of this Lincoln, Mass., home to grin. Careful spacing of the figures ensured the stair meets code, and overlapping the curved walnut treads prevents hurried feet from catching an edge. "The tricky part was creating the illusion that the people were actually holding up the rail," says Rosenfeld. In a few places individual fingers appear to grip the polished rail. Since these back stairs serve the family entrance and mud room, built-in cabinets of Swiss pear and black granite provide storage. The cabinets serve double duty by enclosing the stairwell as it continues down another level.

High Strung

Precision was key in creating a continuous four-story stair in this San Francisco remodel. Originating from within a set of kitchen cabinets that also forms the first flight of steps, 3/8-inch stainless steel tension cables rise 35 feet to the ceiling, where they're attached to a steel bar. It was painstaking work to get each cable threaded through four stories of aligned holes drilled into tabs at the edge of the steel support pans beneath the vertical-grain Douglas fir treads. The effort, and spacing the cables 2 3/4 inches apart, assured that no one would slip through a gap between the cable and the stair. Each cable has a built-in adjustment knuckle at the top to increase the tension as needed. When fully tightened, the cables cannot be pulled more than the required 4 inches apart. A stirrup extends from the bottom of each tread to minimize gaps between the steps. The overall result is an open stairwell that feels as if it's suspended from the ceiling.

Asian Grace

Traditional Japanese Tansu cabinets inspired stepped storage underpinning the staircase in architect Sandra Vivanco's remodeled Edwardian home. Vivanco customized the size of each stairwell compartment to accommodate a particular function--the subwoofer hides behind a perforated metal screen on the corner while wine discreetly ages in a perfectly square rack facing the dining room. Flat panel doors keep the look clean. Open treads above offset the heaviness of the built-in white oak and bamboo base cabinet. "As the stair travels upward, the elements get lighter and lighter until all that's left is a wood trellis at the top landing," says Vivanco. Thin steel-and-glass railings perpetuate an airy look on the higher steps and allow sunshine from a skylight to trickle down. Vivanco also wanted to highlight structural function, so fine details such as laser-cut support beams beneath the landing reveal exactly where the heaviest gravity loads occur.

Great Escape

When architect Dan Rockhill's clients requested an exceptional stair leading to their lofty library, he thought of the wonder induced by metal fire escape stairs that fold away just out of reach. When he found out his clients collected old scientific instruments, Rockhill knew that a stairwell contraption reminiscent of a fire escape was the way to go. The whole language of this Lawrence, Kan., house is steel, including the frame, so clear-coated gauged steel stairs fit that vocabulary. A low-tech but perfectly balanced system of counterweights raises, lowers, and keeps the stairs stationary. Leftover stones from the home's sheathing were cut for the weights. From below, a firm tug on an easy-to-reach handle brings the stairs to the ground. For that cool party trick, simply walking on the raised stairs from above slowly and gently lowers them into place. The entire stairwell system was constructed in a metal shop, then brought to the site, where it was suspended from steel rafters.