Floating staircases always make a big impact, but rarely do they actually look like they’re just wisps of clouds spiraling through a living space. Prior to renovation, the three floors of this home weren’t connected by a single staircase, leading the basement walkout level to feel distanced from the first and second floors. KOS Architects and Atelier Zerebecky wanted to give the villa a sense of liberating weightlessness, a space that feels fresh and light amid the noisy clamor of urban China.

The staircase itself is strikingly sculptural within a central vaulted space, with all of the home’s main rooms connected to it: the living room, entertaining spaces, kitchen, gym, theater and bedrooms. A gradient of opaque white on the glass railings gives it its signature atmospheric look. The balustrade hides the structural steel so the stairs can appear to float on air.

The client wanted something grand and ostentatious without being gaudy, the architects explain.

“Our first gesture was to create a unified space as the backbone of the home – a large double-height vaulted ceiling creates a sense of grandeur without resorting to the extravagance of Loius XIV décor and gold leaf ornament, something so prevalent in the high end residential market of suburban China. Our doubly curved vault maximizes the ceiling height beneath a suburban pitched roof architecture while creating a smooth venetian plastered volume that exhibits the play of natural light. This space houses the ceremonial entrance, the formal living area, fireplace and a new glass staircase.”

The rest of the home feels equally light and airy, including a pink child’s bedroom with its own slide. More photos are available at the Atelier Zerebecky website.

Photos by Highlite Images Taipei

Staircase mishaps cause a surprising number of accidental deaths every year (second only to car crashes), but the sleekness of these floating designs might make you want to live dangerously all the same. Who needs handrails? (Okay, a lot of us need handrails. But still.)

Helical Stone Staircase by Webb Yates

Developed for a private residence by Webb Yates Engineers and The Stonemasonry Company, this helical stone staircase features steps made of individual blocks of stone. The trick to holding it together is the insertion of two 12.9-millimeter steel cables through the center of the stairs, post-tensioned after assembly to support the load. That sounds simpler than it really is. The steps were also profiled into a ‘spine’ shape to reduce their weight. The staircase became the first 320-degree self-supported stone staircase in the world.

Integrated Field by Baan Moom

These gorgeous floating steps are positioned right beneath a skylight for an even more dramatic effect, inside a Thai home for a family of five by Baam Moom / Integrated Field.

Apartment in Luxembourg by Metaform Architects

A striking modern home in Luxembourg produced as a collaboration between Metaform Architects and the street artist SUMO aims to bring urban residences into the ‘post-graffiti’ world, contrasting areas of color with blank palettes of white. The latter is seen here in a curving, seemingly unsupported staircase.

Floating Stairs in Portugal by Feedback-studio

No railings, no problem! Feedback-studio designed these barely-there stairs for their Amaral Loft project in Viana do Castelo, Portugal, a private commission.

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Stairs As Light As Air 13 Floating Designs Thatll Raise Your Heart Rate

Cantilevered from the wall, made from heavy steel, concrete or glass, these stair treads seem unfettered by the laws of physics, hovering in the air. All manner of engineering tricks were used to make these 18 modern staircases into works of art that we just can’t stop staring at.

Hefty Concrete Hanging Stairs

(image via: contemporist)

How do you make concrete stairs look lighter than air? These stairs at the ‘Querosene House’ by architecture firm grupoSP seem to defy gravity, hovering with no visible support.

Cold-Rolled Steel in Manhattan by RAAD

(image via: stairporn)

Floating from one floor to another, these black cold-rolled steel stairs resemble one solid piece of metal, folded like an accordion. Designed by RAAD for a home in Manhattan, the stairs have several waterjet-cut steel stringers concealed within the thickness of the metal.

Floating Steel Tread Stairs, Seattle

(image via: contemporist)

Cantilevered out from the wall, these minimalist steel stairs are right at home in a thoroughly modern West Seattle residence full of steel beams and exposed concrete.

Folded Steel Origami Stairs, London

(image via: dezeen)

Folded like origami, this stainless steel staircase by architects Bell Phillips are a striking centerpiece for an all-white hallway in a London home. Six millimeters thick, the stairs look like they’re floating but are actually supported by a glass balustrade.

Suspended Stairs at the Godzilla House, South Korea

(image via: chaepereira.com)

South Korea’s ‘Godzilla House’ is quite an interesting piece of architecture as a whole, but the curved shape and chameleon-like metal facade are just the beginning. One particularly striking element included by Chae Pereira architects is a wooden staircase with white vertical supports that almost look like rope from a distance.

Ribbon Illusion Stairs by HSH Architects

(image via: illusion360)

If you have to stare at your staircase from the living room every day, why not make it a work of art? This beautiful ribbon staircase by HSH Architects puts ordinary stairs to shame, distributing weight down to the floor through hidden brackets mounted into the wall.

Bright and Modern in Italy

(images via: plastolux)

In the midst of an airy, mostly-white midcentury modern home is this seemingly floating staircase, supported on the external side by a sheet of red-tinted acrylic. The stairs are lit from beneath and the transparent wall reflects the room around it, giving the whole staircase a slightly psychedelic feel.

Semi-Circular Plastic Stairs for Kids

(image via: momoy)

This whole incredibly creative space is definitely worth a look – it’s fascinating, fun and futuristic – but for the purposes of this article, let’s talk about these awesome stairs. Each curving step descends from the wall on either side, forming a totally unexpected way to access a play area on the next floor.

Barely-There Stairs Above a Reflecting Pool

(image via: dezeen)

The way that these stairs play with light and reflection in the space around them is almost more important than the stairs themselves – design-wise, at least. Positioned above a reflecting pool, the cantilevered stairs provide a bit of shady respite on the way to a sunny terrace.

Incredible Bird’s Nest Suspended Staircase

(image via: archdaily)

These stairs definitely aren’t trying to hide – they’re the most interesting element in the room. Reminiscent of a bird cage, the chaotic criss-crossing metal bars are balanced by the serene white of the walls and cabinets.

Triangular Treads at the Shallard House in New Zealand

(image via: archdaily)

Triangular stair treads were a fitting choice for a very angular modern home in New Zealand, designed by architects Lat Forty Five. Each individual step is bolted onto the block wall to give the illusion of flotation.

Spiraling Stairs Supported by a White Wall

(image via: bookshelfporn)

The owners of this home took full advantage of the ultra-high ceiling in the space to create a little library, connecting the second floor to the first with a partially spiraling staircase that is supported by a wedge of a wall, providing a private nook for reading behind it.

Hanging Black-and-White at BUMPS, Beijing

(image via: plataformaarquitectura)

These highly unusual blocky black-and-white stairs are a visual echo of the BUMPS building’s exterior, which consists of black and white rectangles seemingly stacked Jenga-style. Each step is connected to the next leaving negative space as they descend, resulting in interesting optical effects when viewed from the lower floor.

Cantilevered Concrete by Eugeone Pons

(images via: plastolux)

Concrete once again seems to flout the laws of physics in this unnamed building, photographed by Eugeni Pons.

Modern Floating Stairs in Austria

(image via: architonic)

Two separate steps of ribbon stairs, hovering above the ground, form a breathtakingly artistic staircase at Büro.Loft in Austria.

Minimalist Black Stairs by Ecole

(image via: plastolux)

Like an Escher drawing sprung into three dimensions, this floating staircase by Ecole is made all the more dramatic with the use of bold black against a white wall.

Near-Invisible White Staircase in Tokyo

(image via: what we do is secret)

Achieving the opposite effect from the previous example, this staircase in Tokyo is as unobtrusive as possible, practically disappearing into the wall.

Curving Bamboo Staircase by Eedesign

(images via: eedesign)

Viewed straight-on or from the side, this staircase by Eedesign doesn’t look too unusual. But from certain angles, the novelty of the design becomes apparent. Beneath standard-shaped stair treads is a curving support system that resembles a spine, giving the staircase a highly sculptural quality.