Stairs are inherently utilitarian, but some architects choose to really step up their interiors with highly sculptural designs that make you want to walk up and down a bunch of times. Cantilevered creations, floating stairs, spirals made of stone and zig-zagging graphic designs add both literal and figurative movement to these apartments, museums, offices and shops.

Stone and Wire in London by Groupwork + Amin Taha

During the completion of a renovation on a terraced house in central London dating to the 1950s, Groupwork + Amin Taha created a gorgeous centerpiece with this stone staircase, spiraling around a central cylinder-shaped wire cage, which acts as a balustrade. The load-bearing cantilevered travertine staircase extends from the basement to a skylight in the apartment’s roof.

Atrium Stairs at Moscow’s Dominion Office Building by Zaha Hadid

There’s something very futuristic-looking about the stark, graphic black-and-white stairs zig-zagging through the atrium of Zaha Hadid’s ‘Dominion Office Building.’ Each level is slightly offset from the next, producing a disorienting effect when looking down at the stairs from the edge of any of the balconies.

Mirrored Staircase at Kaleidoscope House by Paul Raff Studio

Sometimes, all it takes is a little creativity to produce a stunning effect, rather than a large space and expensive materials. The staircase ascending through Paul Raff Studio’s Kaleidoscope House features mirrored side panels on the balustrade which continue onto the landings of each level, reflecting each other so you can’t quite tell what’s real and what’s reflection. This piece is the heart of the home’s ‘kaleidoscope effect.’

Plywood Puzzle Stairs in London House by Tsuruta Architects

This staircase in a London Home renovated by Tsuruta Architects consists of nearly 2,000 plywood pieces slotted together like a puzzle. Replacing a larger staircase with a more compact design, this new creation connects all four stories without visually obstructing the transitional spaces between them, allowing light to filter through.

Smooth Staircase at Singapore Apple Store by Foster + Partners

It’s not unusual for Apple stores in larger cities to function as showcases for architecture nearly as much as they do for electronics. In this case, internationally renowned firm Foster + Partners augmented “the greenest Apple space yet” with two hand-carved spiraling staircases made of Italian Castagna Stone. The architects describe them as “warm and beautifully sculpted bookends” in an “homage to craftsmanship and materiality.”

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A Few Steps Higher 14 Unusually Artistic Modern Staircase Designs

More than just a means of advancing from one level of a building to the next, staircases are an opportunity for drama and sculptural flair, like a permanent art installation built into the structure. Spiraling toward skylights, carved into a building’s exterior or planted with lush gardens, these incredible modern staircases are the defining feature of the houses, museums and offices the occupy.

Experimentarium by CEBRA, Denmark

This incredible 328-foot-long helix staircase by CEBRA at one of Denmark’s top science centers is made of 160 tons of steel and 10 tons of copper, spiraling up through the four-story atrium.

Salvador Dali Museum by HOK, St. Petersburg, Florida

At HOK’s Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, a stunning surrealist design befitting the artist being honored contains a spiral staircase that curls up toward the skylight even when the stairs end, like a vine stretching toward the sun.

Victoria & Albert Museum Stairs by Stuart Haygarth, London

Pieces of colorful framing typically used to frame art in museums becomes art in and of itself in this staircase installation by UK designer Stuart Haygarth at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Nearly 2,000 feet of cut-off framing pieces are joined, sanded and painted “to create a work akin in 3D graffiti on a traditional staircase reminiscent of the yellow brick road in ‘The Wizard of Oz,”” as the designer explains.

Interrobang Building by Bang by Min, Seoul

Rarely is a modern structure – particularly one shaped like a tower – so defined from outside by its exterior staircases. The firm Bang by Min ‘carved’ a staircase into the concrete block of the Interrobang mixed-use building in Seoul.

The Living Staircase by Paul Cocksedge

Commissioned for the creative office development Ampersand in London, ‘The Living Staircase’ by Paul Cocksedge features integrated planting areas along the balustrade as a functional garden.

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Stepping It Up 15 Spectacularly Sculptural Modern Staircases

Steps that go nowhere, pedestrian walkways that dead-end into elevated bridges, doors that open out into mid-air: these so-called ‘Thomassons’ are what happens when workers demolishing an outdated structure leave part of it behind, whether out of necessity or laziness. Ultimately, they become almost sculptural in their absurdity, visual ties to the past of a particular place. Walking up one of those staircases to nowhere almost seems like it could be the key to time travel.

Japanese artist Akasegawa Genpei named these nonfunctional structures ‘thomassons’ or ‘hyperart thomassons’ in the ’80s in reference to a baseball player with a ‘useless position’ on his team. He noted one such structure in Tokyo in 1972, a staircase that had no entranceway once you reach the top. Discovering more around the city, Akasegawa began giving them names like “the useless window of Ekoda,” building a collection that was published as a book called Chogeijutsu Tomason.

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These days, images of such relics are collected via Instagram tags, on the Hyperart: Thomasson tumblr and on Reddit. There’s even a Thomasson Observation Center on Facebook, accepting public submissions and curating them into new visual references.

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Like the human appendix, these vestigial structures have long since ceased to be useful, yet somehow they’re still around, even as the world constantly shifts and changes. That in itself is pretty strange and incredible.

(images: Mathieu C, Matthew Fargo, Seng Chen and mindbomb via hyperart thomasson tumblr; reddit; wikimedia commons)

Going far beyond their practical function of connecting one level of an interior to the next, these modern staircase designs make a striking statement, often doubling as a sculptural element or offering some other additional purpose. Some act as amphitheater seats, some have built-in gardens and some simply steal the spotlight no matter what else is in the room.

Amphi-Staircase

Inspired by the ‘circles and ovals’ that make up Disney characters like Mickey Mouse, this amphitheater-style staircase stands as the heat of an adult learning center in Denmark by architecture studio CEBRA. The lines of the multi-functional staircase echo those of the curving white balconies that jut out into the atrium at every level.

Glossy Spiral Stairs in a Modular Library

Soaring 115 feet toward the elevated ceiling, this glossy white building-within-a-building adds a library to a modern medical research center at a Rotterdam hospital. It basically functions like one very big bookcase within the large open space, featuring spiraling staircases on either end.

4-Story Living Staircase

A garden, tea bar and library can be found within a stunning four-story spiraling staircase by designer Paul Cocksedge at the Ampersand office building for creative technology businesses in London. Designed to encourage interaction between workers, it features a different function at every level, including a small curated selection of books on the first floor. Pick your own mint from the garden boxes along the railing to make tea at a hot water machine once you’ve reached the top.

Floating Staircase in an All-Black Room

The warm wood lining the interior of this floating staircase by Hidden Fortress makes it glow against the black surfaces of a Berlin concept store, giving it the feel of an optical illusion. The maritime pine used throughout the store is left in its natural state upstairs, so the staircase serves as a visual connection to the next level as well as a literal one.

Partially Suspended Staircase

Italian architecture firm Francesco Librizzi Studio suspends most of a white-framed staircase from the stairwell, making it seem as if it’s supported by nothing but the walls. A separate section stands on its own at ground level. The designers were trying to use the stairs as a narrative scheme, asking questions like “Can a staircase tell us that time passes and children grow up?”

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A Step Above The Rest 15 Spectacular Modern Staircases

Clever integration of storage, dangerous-looking alternating treads and unusual wall-mounted designs enable these 12 compact staircases to avoid the problem of wasted space. Whether leading up to lofts in tiny houses and micro apartments or simply taking a smarter approach in larger spaces, these space-saving stairs look cool in addition to taking advantage of every square inch.

Stairs Packed with Storage

Combining staircases with storage is nothing new in Japan, where carpenters have built drawers and cabinets into them for centuries. This project by architect Kotaro Anzai is a traditional ‘kaidan dans’ staircase cabinet made of linden plywood. Drawers open both out and to the side to make maximum use of the space.

Incredible Built-In Loft & Stairs from HBO’s ‘Girls’

Any architecture and design enthusiasts who watched HBO’s ‘Girls’ probably drooled over the clever built-ins in the fictional Bedford-Stuyvestant home of the character named Charlie. A lounge space is lofted over a semi-enclosed bed, and the stairs leading up to it also function as a closet and storage cabinet.

Built-in Bookcase Loft Stairs

A small apartment in Camden feels far more spacious after a renovation that added a central volume enclosing the bathroom and lots of storage, with a lofted bed on top. The most clever part is the wall of built-in shelves that double as a staircase to get to the top.

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Ultra Compact Stairs 12 Next Level Space Saving Designs