People decorate their houses with many showpieces, paintings, sculptures and other exquisite pieces of art. Stairs have not only been an essential part of the decoration, it has also been revolutionized by architectures. There are so many pretty staircases that can really catch your fancy. Spiral staircase used to be the first deviation from the usual boring ones we see in all homes. Nowadays, architects have moved on to designing much different ones that not only serve aesthetic purposes, but are highly creative and useful as well. Ten such awesome pieces of art have been compiled here.
1. DNA stairs: Geoffrey Packard is renowned for his unusual designs of the staircase. His latest design is inspired by DNA, and it imitates the double helix closely. Packard uses all sorts of material like carbon fiber, glass, wood, metal etc for his DNA stair.
2. Deconstructible wooden staircase: These dark stinted wooden staircases can be assembled and disassembled. Therefore, to remove it, one does not need to destroy. These can be merely disassembled and reused. It is not just a part of great architecture, it promotes longevity too. What it does is it takes the whole idea of permanent structures, and turns it on its head and gives a combination of innovation and imagination. It is the brainchild of Albert Mozo, an architect who built this for an office building in Santiago, Chile.
3. Stairs of floating glass: Translucent and reflective glass surfaces are a characteristic feature of any Apple store. No wonder, the stores in Michigan and San Francisco even have stairs that are made of glass. These glass stairs seem to float in mid air giving an image as its users are also floating.
4. Stairs for super tight space: People living in small apartments always want to save some space. This staircase is aesthetically pleasing as well as quite affordable. Swedish architects of a company based in Stockholm, called TAF Architect Office have created very narrow stairs arranged almost vertically, making it very steep. However, it takes up less than the space of a closet so it would surely draw one’s interest.
5. Stairs with bookcase: This one, when installed properly, can help you utilize the space of each stair and let you store your books there. If you wish, you can sit on the stairs while browsing through the assortment.
6. Stairs of undulating steel: This design was conceived by Thomas Heatherwick, an architect when he was posed with the problem of drawing customers to a store situated above the street level. The floors were covered with strips of steel which continued to become the stairs eventually.
7. Retractable stairs: These stairs are best utilized to access attics. It can be retracted and folded so well that it would take up a very little space.
8. Spiral staircase: Patrick Jouin had carved this staircase out of wood. This staircase spirals upwards and the polished wood makes it a treat for the eyes indeed.
9. Alternating tread stairs: This is the ultimate space saver a person can look for. These alternating tread stairs are used when there is not enough space to accommodate a full rung. Then alternate rungs are created.
10. Suspended staircase bridge: Engineer Jürg Conzett and his associate Rolf Bachofner were entrusted with the job of making a bridge when a rope bridge in Traversinertobel, Switzerland was destroyed by a rock fall. They created a 56 meters long suspended staircase bridge. To make the construction sturdier and stiffer, they have provided four wooden tails that run along the bridge. They also serve as blinders so that the hikers would not have to peek into a 70 m deep gorge below them to give a sense of security.
