Ingenious.

The building inspector will say "Add a railing".

The sensible person will use the space under the stairs for storage and not waste money on ideas like this.

The paranoid will worry that they'll be upstairs when the stairs fail to fold down....

Um.. Speaking as an architect I'd have to say that the building officials won't like that at all.

In case of a fire, people run out the door through the smoke and off of the edge, possibly because they forget in their hurry to flip the switch, possibly because the pistons don't operate fast enough in an emergency, and possibly because when the power goes out your stairs don't work at all..

How green can it be when one of the simplest, most basic functions of your house is made into a powered device?

And it doesn't really gain you any space anyway.. It isn't like you would put furniture under where the stair folds down. It would ruin the whole point.

A kind of silly idea. Looks cool though.

Oh.. a few more things.

One, this entire stair does not fold up. Look at the top. There is a channel you can see where the structural support slides out from the wall. (It can also be seen at the mid-stair where the horizontal 'post' is located). This support slides into the wall, so you can expect it to go at least a couple of feet into the wall.

Two, the folding portions are recessed into the wall. This means one of two things is happening. Either the structure of the wall is being thinned (a bad idea with all of this cantilevered structure) or the wall is being thickened to handle the recess for the tread (and the mechanical portion of the stair that is buried in there somewhere). This means that this space-saving stair is actually taking up more useful space in the room.

Seriously.. Looks cool, but not a very good idea.

"Two, the folding portions are recessed into the wall."- Jim K, I don't see that at all; perhaps the piston is in that thing sticking out the side pushing back towards the wall. I will write the designer and find out what he says.

More pretentious lies from people who call themselves "designers". Ever hear of a ladder? A lot cheaper and actually works.

Regardless, you can't use that space for anything when the stairs are out or put away, except walking (very close to a wall).

But it is crafty.

here is the link to the Design Process:
http://www.aarontang.net/design/dp/dp.wallstairs.html

Lloyd,

Thanks for posting my wall-stairs! How did ya run into it?

I thought I'd post some more info for the people leaving comments which I greatly appreciate even though this projects 5-6 yrs old.

- First off, this project was a 1 week exercise during my Sr year at RISD studying ID. 1 week meaning, about 2 days to work on it during all the other chaotic projects.

- a railing..sure add one if you want.. the railing is an element that can be added later on, but my project was more focused on the "idea" of what a door is, leaving distractions aside for the time being.

- The staircase is not powered by electricity...purely hinges, metal, and wood...and some man power of course... if the power goes out, you can still open/close it. The weight of the stairs would help push it outwards once you released the locking mechanism. You would have to tug afterwards to fully lock. To close it, you would unlock it, and the springs would spring it upwards some...and pushing it would lock it closed..think of those foldable benches in gym class in high school.

- the thickness of the stairs is about 1-2 inches which would recess into the wall. Who knows, maybe more...this is a concept which i'd love to make into reality ;) . My wish would be to fold it up flush against the wall and seem seamless within the woodgrains.

- supports: The lower portion has a sliding rail underneath(in floor), and the upper portion has another rail for support, which might not need to be there. Another option was to remove the sliding rail on top and make the entire top portion the door, which would have sliding rails vertically... Again, this was just an exercise and concept and a reduction in parts is possible with some more time.

- supports: each step folds out and sits on another wooden portion secured to the inner wall. This portion is the rectangle portion undneath the steps when flush against the wall.

- The spring hinges are circular in each step at different pressures for the gradient affect located on the moving portion of the steps. Look at my sketch here:

http://www.aarontang.net/design/dp/dp.wallstairs.html

There are many ways to solve this, but I'd need to dive in with a mechanical engineer/architect to develope this idea.

Personally, I've been asked to create this several times, but as a young designer, I don't really have the budget to develope it further currently, but if any of ya'll have the experience, resources, and want to help me make this wall-stair a reality... send me a note, let's collaborate, or just discuss over some drinks. =)

cheers,
_tango!

Trehugger rocks! My favorite blog!

Come on........if space is this tight, I'm certain (as stated above) that the area underneath would be occipied by something. And if not, oh yea..."hey everyone, lets fold the stairs up and stand there, it's so much fune!"

Like Bob Wallace said, this is cool but it's not actually a good, or "green", idea.

The only thing I can think of it being a good idea for would be as a panic move in case someone broke into your house. If you could lock the mechanism, that is. Other than that, no go.

I could see it in modified form as a security device, kind of a modern day drawbridge to prevent entry :)

I think some of the above criticisms are a little, well, unfair (I get a little itchy when people start invoking building codes in the context of conceptual projects).

But, I'm afriad this isn't a new idea. I've seen similar ideas, most recently on a trip to Prague. You can see a couple of photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/55159154@N00/.

wow, people can be so negative. . . I think the concept is really cool - and after reading the designer's response, I actually think it's even more cool.
Do i think, in it's current state, this staircase is practical, not really, but it's beautiful. and sometimes, that's the most important part.

Not only do you need to add a railing, you need to do something about the open risers- the building inspector will fail you if a 4" diameter ball can pass through it. Plus, when the stairs are folded into the wall, there has to be some kind of a railing where the staircase opens upstairs.

Seriously, stairs are difficult enough as it is... why not spend your energy designing a traditional stair system that is prefabbed, is built from green components, is beautiful, can be made/sold economically (flat packed?) and meets UBC requirements?

I agree, Liz. Sometimes it's about the poetry of the thing, rather than adhering to every little line of the building codes. I love seeing stuff like this, particularly BECAUSE I have to deal with things like codes all day long. It's completely refreshing. I don't think I would have tackled the problem in exactly this way, no, but I admire the designer for some clever thinking.

If we have to address practicality, I can imagine practical applications without too much trouble: little-used mezzanines, storage lofts, attics). It's a heck of a lot easier to carry things up and down a stair than it is a ladder (to address Barry Roaster's snarky comment). And this particularly makes sense if the space below is generally needed for circulation, rather than for furniture or some other use.

To address a couple other commenters: JimK apparently misunderstood the idea (nothing slides into the wall, and a couple of inches of furring don't take up nearly as much space as a stair). And finally, this IS a green idea if it allows the building to be commensurately smaller. Space-saving means reduced material and energy consumption right off the bat, which is the greenest possible strategy.

I agree, Liz. Sometimes it's about the poetry of the thing, rather than adhering to every little line of the building codes. I love seeing stuff like this, particularly BECAUSE I have to deal with things like codes all day long. It's completely refreshing. I don't think I would have tackled the problem in exactly this way, no, but I admire the designer for some clever thinking.

If we have to address practicality, I can imagine practical applications without too much trouble: little-used mezzanines, storage lofts, attics). It's a heck of a lot easier to carry things up and down a stair than it is a ladder (to address Barry Roaster's snarky comment). And this particularly makes sense if the space below is generally needed for circulation, rather than for furniture or some other use.

To address a couple other commenters: JimK apparently misunderstood the idea (nothing slides into the wall, and a couple of inches of furring don't take up nearly as much space as a stair). And finally, this IS a green idea if it allows the building to be commensurately smaller. Space-saving means reduced material and energy consumption right off the bat, which is the greenest possible strategy.

thanks for all the comments.

FYI: the stair design was never intended to be more green, but just an alternative to what's out there. I did do this project at RISD several years ago which is huge advocate in green/sustainable design, which is prbably why I decided not to take the electrical direction. Sometime simplicity is complex within.

- As in space saver... I was aware of this when designing it, but it ws not a driver. Take for instance, if you had a party, and did not want access to your upstairs spaces. You would close the door, and have more space downstairs to set up tables, dance, lounge. In a sense, yes, a security measure from a staircase...much like a door...something you can "close to restrict access to another space, or open to allow entrance to that same space" ...yes, i know, it sounds conceptual, but thats design school 101=)

- railing: yes, there are several iterations to this design in sketch format with railings, where the rail is exposed once the staircase is closed. Also, another design is where the very top step is the door itself, hence, when the Staircase is closed, the top door is closed, hence no entry. Look at my "design process" images.

http://www.aarontang.net/design/dp/dp.wallstairs.html

Liz, thank you for your comments... The crits do not bother me much since I'm use to design crits, but it would be nice if people helped give positive feedback and to further the idea...then again, if I actually created a model with rails, I'm sure there would be all kinds of comments about them as well.

Again, everyone, thanks you for your thoughts. I do want to point out that the goal of this project was the "redesign and define a door". I defined a door as: "An element of a wall that when closed restricted access to another space, and when closed, allowed passageway to that other space." This can be an elavator, an entire car, hallway, etc. Imagaine unlocking this staircase from the lower floor. You tugged the entire staircase out gently to a locked position much like you would to a a door with some springing mechanism. As it locked, each step starting from the bottom would gradually lower and lock into position, almost like a ghost walking up the steps to lock each into place. Click, click, click, click, click, etc. The process in opening the door is an "experience" and in creating a pathway to another envirnment. Sure you can save space, sure you can treat it as a security measure, sure, you can keep it open for a long time... but it's suppose to be a beautiful alternative...just an idea, perhaps a real product soon ;)

Any more q's, please send me an email.

That's the thing about blog comments - people who suddenly feel anonymous become nitpciking critics.

I personally feel the design exercise is beautiful. People - keep in mind it was a project for where the designer studied. The blog is meant to be about green alternatives, the design exercise wasn't. It's a concept for a staircase alternative, and it's not meant to go into your house, so invoking local building codes shouldn't be factored in when critiquing the design itself. I feel the concept is well designed and is not only effective, but it's a practical start to a very real idea.

I want one (albeit modified to be longer and more complicated). As far building codes go, just put it in after the inspector's left. I've had clients install hidden rooftop patios in their homes after the inspector has left! You wouldn't be the first to modify your space, post-inspection.

I've always been a fan of finding different ways to interact with typically unused vertical space. This is right up my alley.

Hi, Aaron –

I stumbled upon this while googling someone else named “Tang” but since my avocation is design/industrial design, I thought your “Wall Stairs” was a beautifully original and creative take on the generic wall stairs (lower case).

Liz, c-dub, and Tony had it right – this was first and foremost a conceptual design exercise and succeeded quite successfully in that regard. Sure, there may be all sorts of little nit-picky things you would have to do to meet code if you were to actually try to market it for general building installation, but don’t let the naysayers get you down!

If you were to really pursue the commercial route, I’m afraid that many of the beautiful and elegant design and operational features of your Wall Stairs (upper case; better copyright the name *now*!) would have to be compromised in the name of The Code. Like a lot of great conceptual industrial design (think auto industry concept cars), that is the secondary great challenge – penning the breakthrough idea is only the start. If you can get your idea virtually intact to an economically and practically producible and usable form, then you will have really accomplished something. There are a lot of beautiful design ideas languishing on paper everywhere, sight unseen; it is those which make it to the light of day and into our consciousness and everyday lives that have the most impact.

Once again, great work, Aaron! If I weren’t otherwise occupied, and ready and willing to burn through a pile of money, I would consider taking you up on your offer to get involved to try to make your Wall Stairs © ;-D a reality….

However, for now, I will keep your contact info on hand and just look forward to hearing great things about you in the future.

Best regards,
MrMister

(BTW, is the animated graphic of the stairs we’re seeing on this blog a real working prototype or just computer-generated?)

Hi, Aaron –

I stumbled upon this while googling someone else named “Tang” but since my avocation is design/industrial design, I thought your “Wall Stairs” was a beautifully original and creative take on the generic wall stairs (lower case).

Liz, c-dub, and Tony had it right – this was first and foremost a conceptual design exercise and succeeded quite successfully in that regard. Sure, there may be all sorts of little nit-picky things you would have to do to meet code if you were to actually try to market it for general building installation, but don’t let the naysayers get you down!

If you were to really pursue the commercial route, I’m afraid that many of the beautiful and elegant design and operational features of your Wall Stairs (upper case; better copyright the name *now*!) would have to be compromised in the name of The Code. Like a lot of great conceptual industrial design (think auto industry concept cars), that is the secondary great challenge – penning the breakthrough idea is only the start. If you can get your idea virtually intact to an economically and practically producible and usable form, then you will have really accomplished something. There are a lot of beautiful design ideas languishing on paper everywhere, sight unseen; it is those which make it to the light of day and into our consciousness and everyday lives that have the most impact.

Once again, great work, Aaron! If I weren’t otherwise occupied, and ready and willing to burn through a pile of money, I would consider taking you up on your offer to get involved to try to make your Wall Stairs © ;-D a reality….

However, for now, I will keep your contact info on hand and just look forward to hearing great things about you in the future.

Best regards,
MrMister

(BTW, is the animated graphic of the stairs we’re seeing on this blog a real working prototype or just computer-generated?)

Hi
I think this staircase fits right into a James Bond movie..... !

mr mister,

thanks for your thoguhts. It's been sometime since I last checked into this posting. Please contact me directly at www.aarontang.net for future notes.

Anyways, just to answer your question, the animation is a realy physical model being animated. I took still shots of the model then made a gif file. Very quick and simpel...this was a quick 1 week project, meaning, about 3 days of thought and work.

cheers, all! I really do hope to find help in making this idea a reality.. i'll have to thanks treehugger for reviving the curiosity in this project after soooo many yrs.

_tango!

Well done- you've created a beautiful thing. Innovative elegant and thought provoking. It drives me crazy that people can't wait to undermine such ideas. To start quoting building codes and evacuation plans and to dismiss the idea as 'silly' is missing the point entirely and narrow minded in the extreme.

A beautiful thing from a very talented creative mind. Can't wait to see other things you're working on.

Brendan Moar

Hey Brendan,

Totally agree with you entirely!!!