Stairs are a necessary feature of buildings with more than one floor, but they can also serve as a key design tool in creating visual points of interests for a wide variety of architecture applications – from a hospital lobby to the reception of a multi-storey office.
Scenic Place by Urbourne Architecture and built by Walshes Alternative Living, in Maribyrnong, Melbourne, is one example of how staircases can become focal features in the home. Located just west of the city, the project is one of the latest housing developments to spring up in the iconic suburb, and its interiors are reflective of the value the local residents often place on architecture and design.
A key design strategy for Scenic Place was to introduce and combine several highly detailed elements while making sure that each had its own place within the wider aesthetics. A Blackbutt U-shaped staircase, the Feature Stair 41 by Slattery & Acquroff, is one of the unconventional points to immediately catch the eye.
While there is no denying it is visually pleasing, a closer inspection reveals the depth of details and amount of planning that had to take place for the product to strike the fine balance between textures, tones and timbers – lightly stained timber that doesn’t hide its grain sits comfortably with stainless steel, black steel and glass; details that are allowed to stand out thanks to the stair’s open design, which allows plenty of light to stream in through the adjacent window. This in turn, creates a shadow line effect within the face of the box landing and timber fascia.
The first flight of stairs is made of 84mm thick cantilevered boxed treads, which are placed over steel supports coming out from a steel stringer concealed behind the plaster wall. This concealed stringer had to be specially engineered and installed within the framework of the wall, while the wall rail is a 70mm x 45mm HR07 profile mounted with satin chrome brackets.
The second flight, separated from the first with a ‘waterfall landing’, or a timber wall that drops down to the polished concrete floor, has no risers and is supported by black ‘zig zag’ steel stringers. These stringers were fitted pre-timber finish to ensure fixing plates were concealed.
On one side of this set of stairs (the outer stringer) is a glass balustrade featuring glass sheets measuring 12mm, patch fitted to the outer zig zag stringer and fascia using 50mm diameter stainless steel patch fittings.
On the other, black steel stanchion posts support a HR07 handrail and are rebated into the treads for a flush, streamline finish. As an added detail, this balustrade is formed by feature stainless steel central wires that run through the treads on the first set of stairs, directly up through the treads on the second flight, terminating in the specially designed steel bar hidden underneath the handrail. This design demanded that the treads and their holes on the first and second flights lined up perfectly, down to the millimetre, so that the wires were completely vertical and evenly spaced. The wire balustrade also has stainless steel net clips to reduce any spreading.
With each detail so considered and unique, there was a possibility that putting them together would create a ‘cluttered’ staircase with too many elements fighting for attention. However, this project manages to avoid being overcomplicated with links drawn across all elements, so that the end product is deceptively simple but sophisticated.
“There is nothing conventional with this project,” says Rick Alabaster of Slattery & Acquroff.
“The amount of time and consultation spent between our technical detailers, the architect and builder was huge, but well worth it.”
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