Stairs & Staircases

Traditional VS Contemporary Design

Traditional staircase design is very ridged and follows a series of rules and conventions. Contemporary staircases design was developed to break some of the conventional rules of staircase design to create someone more unique that can become the focal point of the overall architecture design. Contemporary Staircase designs are individual and specifically personalize for the owner’s desires and requirements.

Use of Materials

The possibilities of contemporary staircase design have been greatly increase and influenced by the ever increasing availability of new materials. The mixing and matching of such a wide variety of materials with the use of creativity and experimentation enables designers to produce limitless design possibilities. The use of both stainless steel and glass in the handrails and balustrade has become very popular as it creates a clean, minimalist design look and feel.

Shape and Size

Contemporary staircase design not only experiments with materials but also with shapes and sizes. Obviously the staircase needs to comply with national safety standards with reduces the element of creativity and shape and style a little but it is amazing to see just how creative designers can be while still working within these standards. The ‘U’ shaped staircase is becoming very popular as it takes up less room within the house and is therefore a great space saving choice. The concept of placing ‘bullnose steps’ at the bottom of a flight of stairs has also been introduced to create variety and special feature to the staircase design.

The implementation of organic curves has also become popular in contemporary staircase design as it creates a unique and unpredictable element to the design.

Relativity

Relativity (December 1953), is a very famous lithograph print (a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface) by the Dutch artist Maurits Cornelis Escher (17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972). The artwork consists of a series of staircases that are optical illusions and at first glance just look like regular stairs but when the viewer more closely examines the artwork, realizes that the angles that the staircases are at is not possible in the physical world. It depicts a world in which the normal laws of gravity do not apply.

Size

The artwork is relatively small (only 22.7cm x 29.2cm), however within this small artwork Escher has enraptured an incredible amount of detail about of this alternate world without laws of gravity.

Source of Gravity (the illusion)

In the world of Relativity, there are actually three sources of gravity depicted within the same space, each being perpendicular to the two others. This is what causes the optical illusion.

The structure has three stairways, and each stairway can be used by people who belong to two different gravity sources. Some inhabitants are depicted as climbing the stairways upside-down, but based on their own gravity source, they are climbing normally.

Escher’s style

Most of Escher’s work was mathematically inspired (although he did not have mathematical training, however, his understanding of mathematics was largely visual and intuitive) and many contained impossible constructions and explorations of infinity.

The Potemkin Staircase is a famous staircase situated in Odessa, Ukraine.  They are the most famous symbol of Odessa and act as a formal entrance into the city.

The staircase is constructed in such as manner that it narrows as it goes up (the bottom step is 21.7m wide and the stop step is 12.5 meters wide). This method of construction creates an optical illusion that give the staircase the impression that they are considerably longer than they really are and also helps to  give a more majestic focal to the top. It is also created so that there is an optical illusion where by a person standing at the top of the stairs looking down can only see the landing at the bottom of the stairs (and not the stairs themselves) while a person standing at the bottom can only see the stairs (and not the landing at the top).

Reason for construction

Odessa is situated on a high steppe plateau. There was a long winding path that led from the city to the harbor, however it got to a time where the people who lived in Odessa really needed a direct access route to the harbor which is located below it; thus a grand staircase was designed and constructed.