A recent Youtube video by Boston-based design firm, Homemade Modern demonstrates how designers can build a timber spiral staircase for significantly less money than a prefab metal version.
In the video, Homemade Modern director and architect, Ben Uyeda shares his spiralling staircase design and demonstrates how to make it from plywood and a CNC router.
Uyeda makes the staircase by cutting 12 shapes of differing sizes from a plywood sheet, which are then stacked and fit around a standard steel post to secure it into place.
He estimates that each full step requires approximately 1.25 1.22m by 2.44m sheets of 1.9cm plywood, which cost him around US$40 a sheet. Additionally, he paid US$450 for the steel, and US$200 for screws and glue. The price of the overall staircase is significantly lower than prefabricated metal spiral staircases.
Full instructions and drawings will be made available for free on Homemade Modern’s website.
