Beautifully Dangerous (Dangerously Beautiful?) Staircase by Jordi Vayreda

Posted by Alex in Architecture, Home & Garden on May 11, 2008 at 8:30 pm


Jordi Vayreda of Spanish design studio Jordivayreda Projectteam created this floating staircase for a client’s home that looks awesome, but a little bit too dangerous for klutzy old me!

Link - via Apartment Therapy

Previously on Neatorama: Awesome Floating Staircases

Update 5/15/08: Jordi Vayreda told us the secret of his floating staircase (excuse the English, this is verbatim from Jordi’s email - but I think you get the idea):

Because of the huge number of comments around the world about my floating staircase design I explain the mystery which people want to know.

First of all, this stairs goes to a small maintenance loft zone for climatic systems, there is another type of staircase to go to the bedroom zone. I design this type of staircase thinking in a sculptural solution because it is situated in front of the principal entrance of the house and we don’t want a collapsible staircase which some designers use for zones with difficult entries, we want something different.

This loft zone it’s 2,40 m height and combines wall and glass wall. Is there, between these two types of walls where I’ve done a width change that people can use like a handrail. It is not appreciated in a front view but you can notice it in a side view. This camouflage handrail will see you to the 1,20 m height which corresponds to the half of the staircase.

Steel is the material which we use to construct the staircases, 100 mm thick and each of them is welded to a 250 mm thick beam. The secret is putting reinforcements to prevent the inertias that can be generated and another one is lean the beam on two walls: the front wall and the lateral.

The staircase is 65 cm wide and it can support 200k, consequently we get the minimal flexion. To obtain the minimal vibrations too, we line the lateral walls with a carton plaster plaque.

This is the result of my floating staircase design.

More photos - Thanks Jordi!


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COMMENT

21 comments to "Beautifully Dangerous (Dangerously Beautiful?) Staircase by Jordi Vayreda"

  1. Aea
    May 11th, 2008 at 8:33 pm

    I hate to be “the one,” but this looks like a photoshop to me.

    The bottom stair is abnormally blurry.

  2. Lore
    May 11th, 2008 at 8:45 pm

    There’s no way that this is physically possible…. right?

  3. Kat
    May 11th, 2008 at 9:00 pm

    I might trust that to hold a cat but not me!

  4. Ali S.
    May 11th, 2008 at 9:16 pm

    I imagine that it could be quite possible but stable over a long time…good god no!

  5. HoolaGirl
    May 11th, 2008 at 9:55 pm

    There are other photos on the site which look much more realistic. The photo shown here does look like it was altered in some way.

    Just thinking of a staircase like that gives me the willies!

  6. leongsoon
    May 11th, 2008 at 10:04 pm

    No, this is not Photoshop. This design has actually been implemented in houses here in Malaysia, and they work well, though the no-grabrails part is a bit risky.

  7. Arty
    May 11th, 2008 at 10:06 pm

    I can’t help but wonder what the weight limit on those stairs are? Looks cool but scary!

  8. RyanRyanRyanRyan
    May 11th, 2008 at 10:07 pm

    The front stair is only blurry because the focus is not in the foreground…

    and yes, of course it’s possible! You don’t know what’s on the other side of that wall. For all you know only half of the board might be visible and the other half might be securely attached - I doubt that it was something as simple as nails.

  9. ...tom...
    May 11th, 2008 at 10:17 pm

    …
    And with a white wall..?!?

    Can only imagine all the ‘fearful’ hand prints as cautious/scared users try to hang on for their dear life..!!

    It would indeed seem the stairs could be anchored securely ‘behind’ the wall…

    Nice share.

    …tom…
    .

  10. Jen M.
    May 11th, 2008 at 10:18 pm

    The support structure would be easy enough to hide in the wall; it’s the thinness of the stair treads that interests me. I can’t imagine solid wood, or even (most?) solid metals would work. The rigidity required to not bend if the outer edge of the stair is stepped on would most likely only be obtainable with some kind of honeycomb or triangular tube substructure… wonder how they did it…

  11. SenorMysterioso
    May 12th, 2008 at 3:02 am

    Ive seen a spiral staircase similar to this but instead of a wall the steps were attached to a pillar and spiraled up it. I was too weary to go all the way up but it held perfect for the few steps I did take

  12. Sofar
    May 12th, 2008 at 3:29 am

    Pft. Minimalism. Sure it’s an accomplishment but where’s the architecture?

  13. ted
    May 12th, 2008 at 6:01 am

    Couldn’t follow the link - connection refused.

    That’s why we have building codes, so insane ideas like
    this never happen.

  14. Ratz
    May 12th, 2008 at 7:03 am

    I believe that cool though it is, that’d be illegal in the UK. I seem to recall all new builds must exhibit hand rails on at least one side and a balustrade on any exposed shafts.

  15. Fran
    May 12th, 2008 at 7:43 am

    No way I’d try this. I fall up and down stairs too often to even think I wouldn’t fall on this one.

  16. Scooter
    May 12th, 2008 at 4:02 pm

    it would appear that the stair rizers are no wider than the chair in the back ground. so i’d say 1.5 feet max. i imagine a solid piece of steel protruding from a wall where it is welded to an even larger steel plate would be suffecient to hold quite a few pounds.

    still, not in my house. I’m not taking that stair in the dark.

  17. Tara
    May 13th, 2008 at 9:22 am

    Don’t drink and use stairs.

  18. Santiago
    May 14th, 2008 at 12:11 am

    My grandfather’s house had a staircase just like that, although the steps were solid oak (and much thicker than the ones on the post), and the secret for its stability is that the steps are affixed to a brick wall and have a complex set of metal anchors inside the wall, it’s not as scary as it sounds, you just have to avoid climbing it while drunk.
    The staircase i’m describing is also quite resistant, as we moved my grandfather’s turn-of-the-century, solid wood desk and the steps did not buckle or crack, even after 50 years of being there.

  19. MANEL AND ANNA
    June 21st, 2008 at 5:06 pm

    WE ARE THE OWNERS OF THIS HOUSE. WE LIKE IT, IT ISN’T AS DANGEROUS AS IT LOOKS, AND IT LEADS TO A ROOM WITH LOTS OF WINE BOTTLES. WHEN WE RUN OUT OF WINE IN TE MIDDLE OF DINNER, WE HAVE TO GO UP THE STAIR FOR ANOTHER BOTTLE, THEN IT IS A BIT “DANGEROUS”. YOU CAN ALL COME AND TRY THE STAIR AND THE WINE. OUR FRIEND JORDI HAD A GREAT IDEA.

  20. Brian
    October 13th, 2008 at 11:08 pm

    I think this has been excellently executed. so what if there are no handrails. sure it won’t pass building codes in many countries but its a great deterrent for keeping kids and others out of your loft. ;)

    looking at how its attached to the steel beams inside the wall, those steps aren’t going anywhere. it’s simple physics really.

    and don’t knock minimalism people. judging by how many of you people have thought this was photoshopped or completely not usable i believe the architect has achieved his goal: maximum shock value while hiding all the effort.

    great job!!!

  21. Karrie
    December 28th, 2008 at 4:16 pm

    Aea, the photograph was taken with a wide lens aperture, which is often necessary in indoor situations to let in as much natural light as possible to the camera. The drawback is that the area of focus is highly selective, and you lose sharpness on areas of the image that lie outside of this singular plane of focus. So, anything further away from the focus plane or anything closer to the camera from the focus plane will go slightly out of focus. Its the same effect you see on professional portraits where the background is fuzzy. Had the picture been taken from the side view of the staircase, all steps would be equally in focus because they would all have lain on the same focus plane. Hope that quells any suspicions that the image is “Photoshop’d”.


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