On Monday, we visited Veronika and Sebastian's rental apartment, with its amazing book-lined staircase. Here's what the architect said about how he came up with this stylish space-saving solution.
London-based Levitate Architects came up with this ingenious solution to a book storage problem and created a loft-like bedroom nestled under the roof of the top-floor apartment. Here's what Levitate's Tim Sloan had to say about the project:
The flat occupies part of the shared top floor of an existing Victorian mansion block. Our proposal extended the flat into the unused loft space above, creating a new bedroom level and increasing the floor area of the flat by approximately one third. We created a 'secret' staircase, hidden from the main reception room, to access a new loft bedroom lit by roof lights. Limited by space, we melded the idea of a staircase with our client's desire for a library to form a 'library staircase' in which English oak stair treads and shelves are both completely lined with books. With a skylight above lighting the staircase, it becomes the perfect place to stop and browse a tome. The stair structure was designed as an upside down 'sedan chair' structure (with Rodrigues Associates, Structural Engineers, London) that carries the whole weight of the stair and books back to the main structural walls of the building. It dangles from the upper floor thereby avoiding any complicated neighbour issues with the floors below.
OTHER STAIRCASE LINKS
>> AT Europe: London House Tour - Veronika & Sebastian's Rooftop Victorian - This is the original house tour!
>> How To: Build Staircase Drawers
- Kristin Hohenadel blogging from rue Vieille du Temple, Paris, France. She can be reached at kristinh @ apartmenttherapy . com
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Oh, dear lord, I'm salivating...
that is super clever!
HOLY COW.
I'm dizzy!
It's cool looking, but can't stop thinking about dust and vacuuming (but I have some furry kitties).
amazing. I'm sure that didn't cost anymore than $50 or so...
Incredible! I don't think I'd have enough books...
Holy canoli! It's a great idea. But I agree with Vanessa. It would be a hassle to clean. I would put doors over each shelf for a cleaner look.
I'm surprised that they own that many books of a certain height. The profile of my books/mags on my shelves is much more uneven. I actually hate our one non-adjustable bookcase b/c my Real Simple mags don't fit.
And I agree that I would prefer doors to cover the books. The sight of all the books within the staircase is visually dizzying for me.
OMG......this looks like the most frightening place to fall and NEVER get up. The treads look like a disaster in the making!
Would never be allowed by code in new construction in the US>
I agree with many.
Very great use of space.
Fun space.
Dangerous space: if not for completely sliding down the whole thing, but for the many many shin bruises.. I love it though.
It looks amazing, but a little dangerous. I keep thinking about having to go down those steps in the middle of the night to use the bathroom.
definitely clever - but I would not want to attempt to carry anything up or down those stairs.
That is unspeakably nifty.
I'd really love to read something that explains why this kind of stairway, with oddly shaped steps, is a good idea. It's interesting to look at but I get nervous just looking at it, and I'm not afraid of heights or stairs. I really love the idea of books all along the side, and the rounded edges of the setup are totally gorgeous.
i
love
this.
I really like the staircase, but just to be fair the idea of right-left staircase is not a new idea.
this is so cool!
That is what the building code calls an "Alternating Tread Device". The theory being that on a regular stair, you only really use half of each step (the left or right half) to step on. Recognizing this, you can essentially delete half of each step (hence in this case the funny shaped treads) and compress the length of the stair, which works great for tight spaces.
Walk up your stair really slowly and pay attention to where you place each foot...if you step on the first step wiht your left foot, your right foot doesn't also go to the first step but directly to the second. So if you look at the very first picture, where you are looking down the stair, you step only on the larger sized treads.
BC - thanks for overexplaining how we climb stairs.
You however forgot about younger people (or those in a rush) who take stairs 2 at a time.
Also my elderly mother does infact lift her left foot onto the first stair followed by the right, onto the same first stair.
I still however think this is a reasonably cool idea provided, as stated earlier, all your books are of the same height. Again mine are not.
Pretty cool idea I guess however if it were only 1/4 or 1/2 occupied with books it'd look weird.
i love the stair treads. looking down on them, they look like tabbed file folders.
There is no handrail either
It's really lovely... too bad it doesn't meet NYC Building Codes!!
that first picture is amazing...but terrifying...
doesn't seem any more treacherous than the ladder leading up to my loft!
Heehee, I just emailed this link to my husband which i titled, "this staircase is hot" and having been someone who grew up in a victorian house, you certainly get used to narrow, steep staircases.
Keep in mind that the people who were meant to go up and down those stairs were the "help" and who cares if they bruise their shins! Kidding!!! (my bedroom growing up was intended to be the maids room.)
What I love about these stairs is that they feed into two separate OCD areas for me: the need to horde books and the compulsion to walk up and down the stairs exactly the same way every time.
It looks even more beautiful in these close ups
The engineer in me loves this shelving solution. The book lover can only think about how the steps would need to be vacuumed quite often. Perhaps, a groove or berm just in front of the books as a barrier to dirt and dust would help?
I'm envisioning a night of partying, and happily stumbling to bed. And then the room begins to spin and then realizing too late that I have to go back down those stairs to get to a bathroom. Which is worse - potentially hurling on my staircase and splashing the books or just opening a window to preserve the precious novels... ?
I absolutely love this. It has to be so peaceful sleeping above all of those wonderful, noise-absorbing books!
The missus and I wanted to put bookshelves into our foyer staircase, but we decided it would make them too cramped (since we didn't have them special built, extra wide.) Now our decision seems especially unambitious.
I also like a drink or ten :o) and while it looks great, and the shelves would majorly solve my book/mag addiction, the fractured skull (when I stumble to the kitchen, about 4am, for some OJ) would not be worth it.
That said, you stick an OFFICE up them steps, ie a place no sane person tries to go when tipsy, and I'd be good to go without any breakages!
Thankyou for the much more detailed photographs of the book case staircase. Lesley from London and I have been trying to decipher publishers and titles over on the Veronika and Sebastian apartment page. From the top I get Pan paperbacks from the late 50s through to the 70's followed by Penguins (orange spine) Olympia Press (Foursquare imprint) (green and white spines) Chatto and Windus Phoenix Library (interwar - green and blue gilt spines); Johnathan Cape Traveller's Library (interwar - blue spines) some early Doubleday and Oxford World Classics (grey and green dustjacketed spines) followed by some post war Modern Library editions and Everyman editions (red and yellow spines). The next shelf down are all Penguin Pelicans (blue spines) dating from the 30s onwards and a three Pan Pipers (white spines black type) beneath that is a mixture but there is a group of Kegan Paul's Today and Tomorrow Series (purple spines with white labels) from the 1920s and maybe some of their red spined Psyche Miniature series. The second last shelf look like modern semiotext(e)s (US imprint) followed by old Fontana modern masters (black spines/white text) then a mixture of titles including some more Pelicans and a couple of Granada editions of Aldous Huxley - one of the few titles that can be made out.
This is just super awsome! i love the comment about i bet it only cost 50 dollars to make,that's a hoot. I think it is easy to see that this awsome idea is bad for drinkers and the elderly other then that this makes me wish i had a second story. Well a second story and a ton of money :)
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You're design is clever and your carpenter is a genius!
Please notice that the intermediate steps curve around and end halfway along the wall - meaning taller books and magazines can be stored there. The current arrangement of books must be meant to display the pure design intent, but the versatility of the shelves extends to even larger formats.
Hey guys,
It's really the ANGLE of the photo that makes the staircase look so intimidating/scary.
The staircase, taken from a more pedestrian view, looks much more manageable and normal:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/uimages/ny/vs4.jpg
What a great idea! I'm not sure that it's dangerous as some have mentioned. One might have to adapt to the ever-so-slightly different configuration, but what's bad about that?!
I want to live in that flat. An ingenious idea!
I don't get the "terror" of the other posters. It doesn't look any more dangerous than the traditional spiral that I have...
You can bust your can on any staircase..
This is just about as close to my IDEAL bookcase as I've ever seen. My boyfriend is a pHd English student and I am an avid reader. I already have three bookshelves squeezed into my tiny apartment, and he is moving in with me in Dec. We've been talking about how to get it all to fit into my apartment. That's a really great idea.
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Wow! What a fantastic idea. I think I'd use it for CDs, I've got so many shelves dotted about the house. Isn't it great when some
That is a really sweet design. I don't have that many books or a space that small though. But congrats on the idea.
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I love, I repeat, love books but there's something nightmarish about this creation. Maybe it's the photo angles but it's disconcerting.
I could spend years in this space (just slide my food under the door). I am quite clumsy, but this is too awesome to not venture.
love, love, love it!
You know Roger Ebert just linked to this on twitter? Don't get nervous, AT, but Roger Ebert is watching..
Amazing, having the stairs as your bookshelves, really great! I love it.
____
“Slow but steady wins the race” - Aesop
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SWEET!
This is one of the most unique uses of space I have ever seen. Simply brilliant
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Wow, that is awesome! I wonder if it would be confusing to climb that. I get dizzy just looking at it! The books throw of my depth perception a bit. Neat though...
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Absolutely unbelievable- how do you even start to think to do something like this- loved it
Thanks for sharing such a great post. your done a very nice post.
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I love the idea of stairs being drawers. Very clever!
Brilliant design of space for a library
What a fantastic design. Pleased personally to see oak being used which is such a great wood to use for strength.
Simply wonderful.