Stairs aren’t just a boring, utilitarian part of our homes and public buildings. They’re an opportunity for an architect to really make a statement and do something bold and distinctive. From staircases that float to stairs that fit in impossibly tiny spaces to staircases that go nowhere, this often-overlooked part of everyday architecture is being rethought by many designers and architects. You’ll see no beige-carpeted run-of-the-mill staircases here; these are some (more!) of the best, strangest, and most beautiful staircases in the world.

Lello Bookshop Stairs

These majestic and impressive stairs can be found in Lello Bookshop in Portugal. The sheer heft of this staircase is balanced nicely by the smooth flow of all of its shapes. The grand staircase begins as two sets of steps on the upper level, then the two become one when the entire staircase folds under itself to glide smoothly to the lower floor. The color and sturdy dimensions give the entire staircase an almost mouth-like appearance.

Steel Ribbon Staircase

This incredible design, believe it or not, is made from 10mm thick sheet metal, and there are no hidden suspensions keeping it aloft; just wall brackets and tension. The ribbon of sheet metal zigzags up the space to make the exposed staircase appear open, airy and mysterious. And best of all, the whole staircase is surprisingly sturdy. Designed by HSH Architects, the staircase is in the main living area of a home in Prague.

Umschreibung (Rewriting)

This crazy staircase to nowhere was commissioned by accounting firm KPMG in Munich in 2004. It was built by artist Olafur Eliasson and now stands in the courtyard of the KPMG building. Besides being an interesting focal point, it’s a functional staircase – if you consider traveling its pointless path “functional.” Although the stairs won’t actually get you anywhere, it’s probably a fun lunchtime break for the people who work in the building.

1M2 Stairs

For hopelessly tiny spaces where traditional stairs would take up too much precious floor real estate, EeDesign has a solution. These stairs fit into just over 1 meter of floor space to provide a passage to higher ground that’s basically like walking up a spiral ladder. They come in many colors and can be customized to fit each unique home and space.

The Gray Hotel Floating Stairs

The Gray Hotel in Milan is a stunning modern building designed by Florence architect Guido Ciompi. There are countless things to love about the building and its furnishings, but these floating stairs stand out. Obviously, one would need to be very careful when ascending them after a night of drinking, but their clean lines and unique design are unforgettable.

Staircase Slide

London architect Alex Michaelis may have discovered the quickest way to get the kids to come down for dinner: let them slide down. Alex let his kids have some input as to what features they wanted in the house he was building, and the staircase slide was one of them. It may not be the most practical design ever, but when the kids are happy, everyone’s happy.

Wheelchair-Accessible Stairs

For everyone who has ever gotten around in a wheelchair or pushed around a baby stroller, you know how frustrating it is to encounter a building with stairs and no ramp. Almost as bad are the steep, poorly-designed ramps that were simply tacked on later. The McCormick Tribune Campus Center in Chicago made a stylish compromise between stairs and ramp with this staircase that incorporates a zig-zagging ramp with the stairs. Of course, it looks like it might take more energy making all of those twists and turns than it would to just go up an ordinary ramp, but aesthetically it’s very sharp.

Floating Stairs

Unlike other floating stairs, this staircase by Bernstein Architecture doesn’t rely on wall brackets to support the steps. Instead, it uses a network of cables to hold each one aloft and completely motionless. According to the architect, the stairs don’t move even a little when they’re stepped on, even though they’re subject to very heavy traffic in their home inside the There TV office in Chicago.

Bookcase Box Stairs

While such a precarious-looking alternating tread stair design would probably never pass building code in America, this ingenious bookshelf staircase makes very good use of a small space. It comes from Czech architects Adam Jirkal, Jerry Koza and Tomáš Kalhous and resides in a house they remodeled in Všenory, Czech Republic.

Wall Stairs

When are stairs more like a door? When they glide smoothly into the wall, disappearing to prevent unwanted guests from wandering up to your home’s upper level. Though it’s just a concept, this disappearing staircase from designer Aaron Tang would be the perfect addition to any international spy’s house. It operates on interior pistons that drive the whole assembly out from the wall, then help each stair lower gently in a wave-like motion. The touch of a button opens or closes the stairs from either end of the staircase.

Villa Glittenberg Floating Stairs

These stairs reside in Villa Glittenberg, a family home on the west coast of Norway built by Saunders Architecture. The staircase is made of 1 cm-thick steel and weighs close to one metric ton. It is so massive that it had to be lifted into the home through a skylight with a special crane. The results are simply stunning, though, as the white stairs hovers above the ground and the residents seem to float up to the upper level.

Hidden Staircase Storage

Martino Gamper produces consistently elegant and distinctive custom furniture, and this under-staircase storage drawer system is a testament to his ability. In this beautiful English country home, Gamper installed an ingenious hidden storage staircase to give the occupants more room for storage and to use up some previously forgotten wasted space.

16th Ave Tiled Stairs

In the summer of 2005, the residents of the Golden Gates Heights neighborhood banded together to make a unique and long-lasting public art project: the 16th Avenue Tiled Steps. The risers of all 163 stairs (on city property) were decorated with mosaics that neighborhood volunteers assembled. The resulting mural is absolutely breathtaking, covering images from deep in the sea to high in the sky.

Wooden Library Stairs

These wooden library stairs are rich, full of character, and absolutely beautiful. The slats are made from spalted white birch and they were all cut from the same log. The cherry tree in the center is real, and it goes through the ceiling to emerge on the upper floor as the staircase’s newel post. The steel supports and mahogany handrails just add to the luxurious feeling of this amazing staircase.

Musical Stairs

Although it was only a temporary installation, these piano stairs deserve a mention based solely on the number of smiles they induced. The Fun Theory is a campaign from Volkswagen that’s focused on bringing a smile to everyday life. When they installed this piano keyboard in a Swedish train station, many more people than usual decided to take the stairs. The unexpected larger-than-life toy brought out the inner child of a lot of people during its short life.

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The study of musical instruments (’organology’ – no, really) is the study of the human condition. Every culture is defined by its own distinctive set of trills, whistles, parps, honks and beats, and every corner of the world has evolved its own location-specific indigenous instrument to renew a sense of cultural identity through noisy self-expression. And instruments evolve – never more so than now, in the midst of a technological revolution that has opened up entirely new ways to make music. So settle back and compose yourself as we look at ten new instruments that look set to accompany us into the world of tomorrow.

1. Eigenharp

(Images via: Eigenlabs and engadget)

In development for 8 years with funding of over £10m / $16.5m, the Eigenharp is a slow-crafted technological marvel. 120 keys (each one tilting to give a flexible tone), percussion buttons, built-in sound management capabilities including recording, playback and looping, and a potentially limitless range of noises thanks to running on uploaded digitally sampled sounds. It is played via keyboard, tap-pad and mouthpiece – and the result is an instrument that sounds like a band.

2. Electric Violin

(Images via: Wired and Riverstring)

Similarly digitally enhanced are the electric violins, a family of new hybrid instruments that are sufficiently well-established to become a mainstay of the modern music scene. Thanks to electrical pickups inside or outside the instrument’s body, the violin’s vibrations are run through electronic processing and transformed into any sound under the sun – most effectively, the noise of an electric guitar. Witness the magic of Ed Alleyne-Johnson performing on the streets of Chester, England.

3. Tenori-On

(Image via: Yamaha)

No, this isn’t the first good-to-go version of Minesweeper: this baby is for making beautiful music with.  The 16 x 16 grid of LED lights on the Tenori-On responds to touch and to real-time looped programming, creating soaring, rippling compositions that mesmerise beginners and experts alike (Peter Gabriel is a fan). If you want a hands-on demonstration of its power, try Andre Michelle’s ToneMatrix, an online AudioTool-powered simulation.

4. Samchillian

(Images via: Eitan Shefer)

Musical instrument or chest expander? You’d be forgiven for asking – but the Samchillian is a new, ergonomic-minded take on the keyed instrument, with each key representing a relative, not fixed, note. As the musician plays, the function of each part of the instrument is constantly changing, allowing a full range of musical expression (provided the player has a really good memory, of course).

5. BeatBearing

(Images via: BeatBearing)

And moving further into the realm of instruments that look like anything but – we have the BeatBearing. Instead of generating noise itself, the BB triggers the timing of preselected types of percussion – simply drop a steel ball-bearing in the right slot to get the beat you want, when you want. The inventor isn’t interested in manufacturing his design: instead, he has published the plans on DIY-tech online magazine MakeZine to encourage people to build their own - and with more than 1 million views of the Youtube demo (below) at the start of this year,  we reckon there will be plenty of takers.

6. Hapi Drum

(Images via: Wikimedia Commons/OrangeHat)

At least the Hapi looks like what it is (well, kinda) – a steel drum with a hole in the base that allows the player to control the amount of noise emerging, using their lap. Since each key (or “tongue”) is part of the main body of the instrument, each note is accompanied by a subtle resonant harmony from other musically compatible notes. Time for a demonstration, methinks…

7. Electroencephalophone

(Images via: Glogger/Wikimedia Commons)

At first sight, you’re looking at a lady trying to listen to her iPod underwater, and a collection of buff young people stood up in a hot-tub. In fact in both pictures depict music-making, via an electroencephalophone – a device that converts brainwaves into sound (and therefore a quintephone). The lady is psychotherapist Ariel Garten participating in a concert performance – and the “hot-tub” trio are an electroencephalophonist and two assistants accompanying on electrocardiophones.

8. Hydraulophone

(Images via: wearcam)

Now to the merry, messy world of the hydraulophones. Water flows out holes in the instrument, and the player uses his fingers to block or divert each stream, triggering internal mechanisms – discs, shafts or valves – that produce sound. In other words, it works like a woodwind instrument, except the wind is replaced by water (which doesn’t directly create the sound).

9. Drawdio

(Images via: Jay Silver via Wired)

Daring you to not burst out laughing when it gets underway is the Drawdio, a homespun theramin. There are a number of ways to make one (cheaply and easily), but the working principle remains the same in all models – it runs a current through the graphite deposited from the end of your pencil (or any other appropriate medium, including yourself), and translates it through a synthesizer to create a noise like a kazoo in a gale.

10. Ocarina

(Images via: Smule)

But for breadth of lateral thinking, hats off to Smule, the inventors of the Ocarina iPhone application. Using the phone’s built-in movement sensors and touch screen, your phone becomes either a wholly keyed instrument…or a kind of flute, by detecting the passage of your blown breath and translating it into intensity of sound. Once you’ve finished your piece, upload it to the Ocarina online community and listen to the work of others. A virtual instrument that automatically shares its output online – can you get more contemporary than that?

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Bland, unattractive and cookie-cutter? Try modern, elegant and surprising. These incredible remodels transcend all stereotypes about apartment and condo designs with unexpected materials like galvanized steel, design tricks that make small spaces appear bright and open and a masterful balance of vintage and contemporary.

Industrial Modern Metal Apartment Design

This minimalist, monochromatic metal apartment design in Moscow uses repetitive geometric shapes to add interest to what might otherwise feel like a cold and rather unwelcoming design. Remodeled by architect Peter Kostelov, the apartment is made almost entirely out of industrial materials in shades of black and gray with corrugated steel, visible welds and exposed rivets adding a little texture to this living space.

Minimalist Remodeled Warehouse Loft Apartment

To some, this apartment remodel may appear unfinished, but for those who find beauty in simplicity, it’s perfect just as it is. Once a warehouse building, this Tokyo loft was redesigned by Schemata to reveal the bare bones of the space and revel in the contrast between polished, modern surfaces and the raw, aging architecture.

Dramatically Designed Small Apartments

Tiny apartments with low ceilings can feel stifling and cookie-cutter, but the architects of A.A. Studio certainly gave this space personality and a sense of airiness with an unusual, surreal apartment redesign approach involving lots of white. Curved corners, built-in bookcases, reflective surfaces, patterned lights and niches make the space feel larger and also strangely timeless.

Glacier-Inspired Interior Design Idea

Inspired by the snow-and-glacier-capped mountains of Lucerne, architect Gus Wusterman remodeled this small apartment into a simple white living space that is somehow warm despite its chilly origins.  With strategically placed wood panels and lots of built-in surfaces including a tier of stairs leading to a rooftop deck, the design makes the space feel more like a landscape than a set of individual rooms.

21 Rooms in 1 Flat

Remodeling a 350-square-foot apartment-turned-condo on a budget, Gary Change somehow managed to create a luxurious space that transforms into 21 different layouts through the use of sliding walls, fold-down desks and other movable architectural elements. Simply by folding, unfolding and sliding some elements around, Change creates a steam room, home cinema, a guest bedroom and more.

Color- and Pattern-Based Apartment Design

Instead of making furniture and décor the focal points in a living space, why not do the opposite? This vibrant apartment design by Tham and Videgard Hansson gets all of its visual interest from the strategic use of color and pattern, with shades that shift from autumnal reds to cool blues to create different moods in various rooms. White furniture keeps the overall look of the apartment from being too busy.

Laid-Back Modern Luxury Loft

The juxtaposition of bright white surfaces with warm wood, especially when combined with metal and glass, can make a space look modern and luxurious – but achieving that effect doesn’t have to be expensive. Chart.Corb renovated this loft in Paris using affordable materials like plywood to create a cozy, contemporary living space that is simple without being stark.

Rustic Recycled Modern Home

Remodeling an unused space into a historic apartment is much easier when the space that you start with has as many beautiful features as this. Unfinished walls, peeling paint, concrete surfaces and exposed brick hardly look unkempt when finished with wood floors, white partitions and modern furniture. Designed by Gus Wusterman, this apartment is thoroughly modern, yet retains a vintage feel brimming with texture and character.

Religious Conversion: Church to Loft Condo

With its many desirable architectural features – from high ceilings to an open floor plan – it’s no surprise that a place of worship would make such a fantastic conversion into a loft. This East Village project by Manifold transformed a synagogue into a beautiful three-story private residence that is a shining example of adaptive reuse.

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If the words “gargle” and “gargoyle” sound similar that’s no coincidence, but from their original function as decorative downspouts gargoyles have evolved into whimsically sculptured, cathedral dwelling creatures who often look evil but whose purpose is to do good.

Lookout Below

(images via: Livius, Under the Gargoyle and A.Davey)

Reminiscent of classically inspired lion-headed faucets, the ancient gargoyles above display the openings through which rainwater poured. The purpose of the heads was purely practical at first: keep water that fell onto a building’s roof from coursing down its sides and undermining the foundations. The gargoyles above hail (clockwise from above left) from Ai Khanoum in Afghanistan, ancient Greece and Axum in Ethiopia.

(image via: Corbis)

They may have helped the buildings upon which they were mounted but pity the poor townspeople for whom every rainy day became a walk in the waterpark. The majestic, lion-head gargoyle above once directed rainwater from a corner of an ancient Greek temple’s roof.

Roman Noses (and Mouths)

(images via: Jeff Cook, The Luminous Landscape and Degenerate Press)

In the time of the Roman Empire gargoyles began to be built with lead pipes inside to channel water without eroding the stone. It was an effective innovation, as can be attested to by the many gargoyles still performing their functions atop Roman temples 2,000 years or more after they were built.

(image via: Grows On You)

Like so many innovations pioneered or perfected by the Romans, gargoyles are popularly used today to give a distinctive look to fountains and other water sculptures that don’t need rain to let it shine.

Mooning Gargoyles

(images via: Krossbow and Skeptic Friends Network)

Sometimes gargoyles take on unusual forms that seem out of place with their usual locations – on places of worship. Take the pair of mooning gargoyles above from Germany (top) and England. Some say that these types of gargoyles were “aimed” at competing buildings or in the case of the German one, a government office across the street.

Japanese Gargoyles

(images via: Digital Photography School, Jenlyn and Sosaku)

Gargoyle etymology breaks gargoyles down into three occasionally overlapping formats: gargoyles that drain water, “grotesques” that are sculptures, and chimeras which are unusual representations of non-existent creatures. The onigawara figures that appear on the tops of medieval Japanese castles, temples and old houses are in a class of their own, however, and at some locations are covered in gold leaf.

(images via: Wikipedia and Tsubu Gai)

The most famous Japanese gargoyles are shachihoko: gold-plated, tiger-headed carp that were placed in pairs atop the country’s most important castles to protect them from fire. Shachihoko are often quite large and although valuable, would be very difficult to steal. They’re popular tourist attractions on the rare occasions they are taken down for cleaning.

Notre Dame Cathedral’s Gargoyles, Paris, France

(image via: Architecture/About)

(images via: Finazzo, Stonecarver and Raingod)

With Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral, gargoyle sculpture reached its zenith of artistic beauty and laid the basis for centuries of gargoyle legends and lore. Technically “grotesques” and not pure gargoyles, the many mythical creatures crafted to guard over Notre Dame de Paris are favored subjects of photographers as they glare darkly over the City Of Light. Although extensively restored, the building and its trademark gargoyles looks much like it did upon the completion of its initial construction in the year 1345.

The Chrysler Building’s Gargoyles

(images via: Fotothing, XRoads and Alinbdt)

Completed on May 28, 1930 after only two years of construction, New York City’s Chrysler Building stands as a beacon of modernity and a celebration of American capitalism. With that said, the building harkens back to historic cathedrals with its set of amazing gargoyles.

(image via: Curbly)

William Van Alen designed the Chrysler Building and its iconic gargoyles, one of which is shown above. This spectacular Art Deco eagle – modeled after the hood ornaments used on 1929 Chrysler cars – gleams in stainless steel and looks out over New York City from the Chrysler Building’s 61st floor.

Arizona Gargoyles

(images via: Copperdragon and Photographers Direct)

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary church in Flagstaff, Arizona, is a little touch of Gothic charm in America’s desert southwest. The many gargoyles learing out from the church’s walls take on an especially grim appearance on mornings after the city is blasted by winter weather, causing icicles to grow on the already spiky figures.

Alabama Gargoyles

(images via: Selma Daily Photo, Deep Fried Kudzu and DiveMasterKing2000)

Gothic architecture in Alabama? It’s more likely than you think. The First Baptist Church on Lauderdale Street in Selma, Alabama, boasts an interesting group of gargoyles leaning out from the church tower’s four corners.

National Cathedral Gargoyles, Washington D.C.

(images via: Stonecarver and io9)

The National Cathedral in Washington D.C. looks much like any of Europe’s great historic cathedrals from a distance, but up close the visitor is in for a surprise. The cathedral’s gargoyles memorialize a mix of archetypal American imagery with pop culture cues that will fill many with Shock and awe. Perhaps the most famous of the cathedral’s many interesting gargoyles is one chilling figure carved to resemble Star Wars’ penultimate villain, Darth Vader.

Carved in stone or cast in metal, the many gargoyles, grotesques and chimeras perched menacingly on the world’s great buildings never fail to evoke emotions ranging from joy to hope to fear and even terror. It’s a good thing they’re inanimate, isn’t it?

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What do Bill Clinton, Bruce Lee, Charlemagne and Jack Kervorkian have in common? They’ve all been made into custom historical LEGO mini-figures by LEGO artist Jamie Spencer. Spencer, also known as Morgan190, created an incredible collection of historical figures for the 2007 Fine Clonier Historical Figure Contest.

Each historical “minifig”, as these LEGO creations are called, had to be made only from official LEGO elements for the contest – hence, Spencer explains, the “Conan O’Brien hair” seen on many of them, and the Harry Potter scar on John Lennon’s forehead.

The figures range from the obscure  – like Charaka, the founder of Ayurveda (Indian Medicine) – to ubiquitous modern personalities like Donald Trump.

Spencer, a longtime LEGO enthusiast who spent untold hours building with them as a child, cites the Space and Castles lines as his favorite LEGO themes.

Spencer’s other LEGO minifigs often have dark sci-fi themes, and he has also created a few ornate steampunk designs. Asked by BuySteampunk.com where he gets his parts from, Spencer replied, “I don’t necessarily limit my collection to any one of LEGO’s lines so I happily pull accessories and parts from wherever will work.”

“The source of minifig parts ranges anywhere from Indiana Jones to Castle. One of the greatest aspects of LEGO is that it’s all interchangeable!”

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