Contemporary design and fabrication processes have been used to create a staircase with “wing-shaped” folded steel treads at the heart of this renovated New York City apartment .
Nearby studio Integrated remodelled the interior of the apartment in a pre-war developing on Central Park West in Manhattan for a couple with a large art collection.
Having recently extended into the upper unit of a duplex spread across the building’s 14th and 15th floors, the owners wanted a cohesive interior where they could display their large assortment of paintings, photography and sculpture.
The apartment constructing was constructed in 1921 and its classically organized internal layouts had become outdated, so Incorporated set about generating brighter spaces that retain several of the building’s original functions.
“We sought to deconstruct the symmetries and contained rooms of the unique strategy to facilitate a far more open loft-like knowledge, with no losing the memory of the original detail and the framework of the architectural envelope and strategy,” the studio’s design director Adam Rolston informed Dezeen.
Existing particulars such as the herringbone floors and a hand-carved fireplace were retained and supplied references for new interventions aimed at giving the whole apartment a unified truly feel.
The most striking addition is a staircase at the centre of the apartment’s plan that connects the two amounts. Its cantilevered treads resemble individuals of a staircase extra to designer Deirdre Dyson’s London gallery, while the streamlined framework recalls a minimal steel and glass stair at a gallery in a converted Alpine home.
Related story: Staircase doubles as a bookcase in London loft conversion by Tamir Addadi Architecture
Incorporated’s aim when creating the staircase was to create a visually light-weight kind that could only be created making use of the latest design and manufacturing processes.
“The mandate for the stair was to float in between the floors,” explained Rolston. “We wanted to develop a stair that would be experienced as a sculptural element, and to push the engineering of the design to its logical limits to facilitate the minimum intervention.”
Influenced by the Japanese paper-folding art of origami, the stairs are made from steel with a folded “wing-like” form that offers inherent structural power and reduces the amount of materials required.
Digital design and style computer software was utilised to model a shape that tapers as it extends further from the wall and the deflection forces placed on it diminish.
The type was examined by producing 3D-printed versions and structural evaluation application was utilized to check the strength of the steel and glass factors ahead of the last digital model was sent to the fabricator.
The cantilevered treads are linked to a single stringer embedded and hidden in the existing framework, whilst a glass screen lining the staircase accentuates its light-weight really feel.
A technique of brackets, clips and channels – created to safe the display, railings and treads – is concealed behind the flooring and the plaster finish of the walls.
Photography is by Annie Schlechter.
Floor prepare Dezeen
