In a similar fashion our stair to a large project in Kensington that sees three flats amalgamated into one house is located in what was the lightwell between the flats and the open side of the lightwell is the closed with an eight metre drop of glass ensuring that the stair and the open landings behind are flooded with light. This stair is visually complex and in order to investigate the design a series of detailed computer models have been developed.
Larger stairs such as in our community centre near Brighton offers further opportunities. Here strong colours and a simple form and a prominent location behind a two storey glad screen create a dramatic and well lit feature stair.
At our project currently on site near St Albans it is the location of the stair that has opened up a series of possibilities. The project concerns the re-working of a large country house. It’s problem was that although the area of the building was large it was divided into a lot of small rooms linked by a long corridor with little connection to the garden beyond. Our design sees the stair relocated into a double height space centred on the main entrance opening up the garden behind. Immediately the feel of the interior is one of an open light bright space and of high design quality.
This is a brief summary of some if the variety of stairs that Shape Architecture have designed and continue to work on. If you are considering a new project and the above is of interest please feel free to contact us.
A feature of Shape Architecture’s work is the range of internal stairs that we design. These are distinct design features across our portfolio from private residential projects to school or community projects.
As objects with a sculptural form sitting in a void filled with natural light there is always much potential in designing a stair.
Key to realising this potential is the use of computer modelling to explore and clearly communicate the design proposals.
In many of our basement projects the stair linking the ground floor to the basement offers the opportunity to bring natural light into the basement. With the stair set below a large Rooflight then the additional benefit is the view of the sky from the basement and as one used the stair. This all serves to help integrate the basement into the rest of the house. In two of our Fulham basement projects the stair has been located in a glass box projecting into the garden and here the relationship of the internal stair and the garden is a positive feature of each project.
