It’s really fascinating, when you come to think of it, that one of the most complex feats of engineering in the average house is also one of its most familiar: the staircase. If you live in a house, chances are you ascend and descend one multiple times a day. But you may have never considered the intricate series of calculations that have allowed you to make this quotidian journey without falling off, down or out of it, or having the whole apparatus collapse under your weight.
Staircases also present one of the few opportunities in most projects for architects to let themselves off their leashes creatively, to transcend the strict requirements not only of gravity but of building codes and play a little.
As the following three projects show, a staircase can be much more than just a way to navigate through a home. It can also become a kind of kinetic sculpture that comes to life the minute you place your foot on the step.
South Hill House
The balletic curves and swoops of this staircase in an older mid-Toronto home, designed by StudioAC and engineered and built by GV&Co., are arresting enough. But when you realize that, despite its clean Modernist spareness, the whole interior is actually a more or less faithful reinvention of the home’s early 20th-century bones, it takes on an intriguing new spin.
According to Mohammed Soroor and Yu Chu Su of StudioAC, the original stair was also curved, but its graceful lines were obscured inside surrounding walls. “The key to the design was achieving a balance between preserving select existing features while incorporating an open plan that fills the interior with natural light,” recalls Soroor.
“Keeping the beautiful form of the original staircase was important,” adds Su. “We wanted to carry that curvilinear language throughout the house. Opening it up allowed the form of the stairs to ‘breathe,’ and now it helps you navigate your way around the house, both literally and figuratively.”
It also became the central manifestation of a recurring, almost symphonic motif. At its foot, the two guardrails curve but also open out gently, as if inviting you to enter and ascend.
Railings and mezzanines curve gracefully around and above the stair. And all through the rest of the house, archways and even the rounded edges of the kitchen cabinets, add a few curves of their own.
Paul Vouriot, partner, design and operations at GV&Co., calls the staircase nothing less than an architectural feat. “The staircase is entirely self-supported, constructed from steel, and broken into two parts spanning two floors. The balustrade is clad in plaster with custom hardwood treads and risers. The sleek steel handrail is illuminated by skylights, allowing natural light to highlight its sculptural form from all angles.
“This staircase fits perfectly in the renovation of this home, as its minimalist beauty and intricate craftsmanship are seen at every angle.”
Urban Elegance
The staircase in this 12th-floor Montréal penthouse, a collaboration between ARCHITEM Wolff Shapiro Kuskowski architectes and Desjardins Bherer is as much a sculpture as it is a structural element. ARCHITEM’s Eduardo Carrera and Andrea Wolff conceived it as one continuous structure flowing from the lower to upper level of the space, in order to minimize interference with the penthouse’s spectacular city view, which had been a drawback of the original circular stair. But in the process, it became much more than this.
The stair’s rise is guided by the Fibonacci sequence, giving it an uncanny, idiosyncratic grace, like a leaping whale or a boomerang in flight. It consists of three basic elements: the painted-steel shell that forms the guard and outer skin; the oak woodwork that forms the steps, handrail and liner on the outer edge; and the glass railing on the inner side.
Because each of these materials worked together to form the structure that supports the stair, each had to be built and assembled to very precise tolerances, especially the glass, which was milled in Europe. “We had to do 3D scans to create an exact template of the glass railings,” recalls Carrera. “One millimetre out of place, and the whole piece could shatter.”
The flight from the lower to upper level is high enough to require a landing at the halfway point, but it’s hidden; viewed from the outside, the stair rises in one graceful curve. “Guard rails have to be a certain height for safety reasons, but you are allowed a few inches of variance,” Wolff explains; this allowed them to maintain one smooth arc from the bottom to top of the outer shell. The wooden handrail tucked within straightens out where the ascent pauses at the landing (thus satisfying code requirements that it must be fixed at a precise point above the step for safety and comfort) and simply continues its upward journey when the steps do.
As Wolff puts it, “It’s more than just a staircase. It’s a different way of seeing the space. But it’s also dynamic; it unravels as you go up the stairs.”
The Clubhouse
The overall geometry of the modern home by FrankFranco Architects that houses this staircase is minimalist and fairly rectilinear; the staircase became one of the few opportunities where architect Frank DiSarra could add a bit of architectural artistry. “The space we had to work with was actually square,” he explains. “So we thought, why not create something more sensuous and curving?”
The stair began to take shape in his mind early on as a ribbon, rather than a spiral. The edges of the guards don’t line up exactly with each other; they undulate at a slight variance, which gives the stair a subtle, cascading sense of visual movement. At the top and bottom, the outer edges flare out, then curl inwards; the effect is to turn the hard cold-rolled steel guards into something lighter, almost flowing. Open risers and white Everest quartz treads add to the light, almost dynamic feeling; the stair flows, ribbon-like, between floors.
DiSarra also played with the contrast between the delicate wooden handrail on the inner edge, and the top of the heavy, black-painted steel outer guards. Where the guards are substantial, undulating in a subtle wave pattern as they ascend, the handrail rises modestly, in harmony with the steps.
The positions of each of the two landings was carefully considered, intended to allow the user to stop and look back through the house from particular vantage points. “The idea of two landings lessens the act of climbing; you pause and look out over the house, or through the windows. In effect, you’re starting from different places.”
As DiSarra explains, “I like the idea that, when so many of the things we do as architects are mechanical — and going up and down a staircase is certainly mechanical — that here, we were able to deconstruct the idea of a staircase and create something that appeals to our senses,” he says.
“It’s just a staircase, with just these humble materials. But it’s also this wonderful, crafted sculpture.”
As featured in the November-December 2024 issue of Canadian Interiors magazine.
