apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

you've got to be kidding me. Does a prepaid hospital bill come with it?

i don't want to try those stairs. i know i'd fall down them immediately!

Yeah, kinda cool - but definately wouldn't pass code in the US as the only staircase in the house - Older folks and children who can only take one step at a time could never navigate these, not to mention the lack of railings to hold onto.

(And can you imagine the nightmare that moving furniture up/down these would be?)

Idiotically dangerous for a home. Looks and function need to go together with stairs and this is a losing proposition on function.

Those steps look hella high too. At least you'd get a workout zig zagging around and tensing up, trying not fall.

but lots of people have weird stairs to their loft or bedroom-above-the-bathroom like in some of the small/cool entries we know and love.

personally, i wouldn't be able to handle this even once, let alone every day...but it sure is pretty!

uh, try going up those after a bottle of wine!

how friggin impractical.

Yeah, those would definitely result in a trip to the hospital after a night out with my friends. It's a cool concept, and kinda cool to look at, I wouldn't mind going up them once or twice for the novelty factor...

But overall... no.

Not trying to be one of those people, but didn't these stairs make the rounds a few months ago? I remember seeing them, but unfortunately I don't remember where. Maybe I accidentally wandered into a Swedish design message board... hmmm

Just looking at that second photo makes me anxious. I could probably walk up this staircase, but coming back down would be scary.

Pretty to look at, but hilariously impractical.

I guess I could get use to them in time---but why? They look cool, but not graceful as normal steps are.

the stairs are absolutely beautiful - but i recently slipped while going downstairs in my own home and landed on my back. thankfully i'm alright, but i'm in the process of adding a stair rail after being told by several architect friends of mine that going rail-less looked much more modern and clean.

so, right now, i'm biased against rail-less stairways.

By code that is an alternating tread device in the US, and would be allowed in some situations. I have never experienced any exactly like that (or that cool) but they are surprisingly easy to use and save tons of space...

Someone apparently was sleeping during their 'rise over run' lecture in architecture school. Yikes! Cool for a sculptural form, though.

I bet they're not as hard as the picture looks like. Would love to see them in person.

If this were a shelf I'd be jumping all on it but I can't imagine coming home from a crazy night and trying to get up the steps with my boyfriend trying to be all sexy then fall on my ass!

Great idea for reuse, but I'm a massive klutz and those stairs look treacherous.

Um, cynics and naysayers, this design is actually based on a VERY old method for making (and navigating) stairs.

It looks cool, yes, but any woman wearing a pair of heels would be screwed. And if you're as clumsy as I am, you'll end up with lots of bruises from falling down that.

I'll stick with regular stairs, thanks.

Makes me feel squeamish.

um yeah, i just fell out of my chair at work..those stairs should be illegal.

I think the stairs are beautiful, and if your put both hands on the wall as you climb or descend, one on each side, it should be safe enough. But that would lead to another problem--grubby walls after a while. But clearly they are a good solution for a narrow space.

I love it, but having just seen my (suddenly so old) parents off to the airport it does make me nervous. They'd never be able to navigate them, not without a hand rail.

these stairs would seriously stress me out

Looking down those steps make me dizzy! My poor dog wouldn't be able to navigate them, and as a matter of fact, neither would I.

Looks cool, but... they scare me. I sometimes still have trouble with a standard staircase! :P

Yikes, yikes,yikes!!

Re: "any woman wearing a pair of heels would be screwed"

Um, no comment.

I'm with spiralcma -- those things are a big hospital bill waiting to happen.

Repeat. And just as migraine-inducing as it was months ago.

Wow, this is so beautiful! If I had grown up with these, maybe I'd comfortable using them. Unfortunately, I'm already envisioning myself falling.

Death. Trap.

soooooo not a good idea for me!

This has definitely been on AT before, but back in December or November I think.

These stairs still frighten me.

Less freaky than some of the alternative stairs I've seen. I think for a half flight loft or something they'd be pretty cool.

Definitely not a drinks-friendly ascension!

I hope the bathroom isn't upstairs, lol

This is a take-off of a Lapeyre stair. Originally designed in the early '80's, it is a prefab metal stair and platform system built for easy installation and use of alternating treads that is preferred to ladders in a maintenance environment. It would not pass muster with building codes for dwelling use. Great imagination...maybe it is only a secondary stair and really serves as a sculptural element.

See http://www.lapeyrestair.com/

I don't think those stairs would pass by a council planning office? The building inspector would freak!

Looks like a pile of lumber. That is a problem in itself. It's trying too hard to be outside the box that it's horrible in a self-conscious way. I have gone out of my way to avoid addressing physical impracticalities, just because it's the most obvious reason to hate.

a mis-step on those stairs will send you straight down.

That's the most dangerous stairs i have ever seen

They look so cool, and I think I'd give them a go... once. (Then I'd be stuck upstairs and have to find another way down!)

these architects have to be really young :-D

Hah. I love these and I'm a klutz. I'd still put them in my house.

Hell. No.

next time, instead of paging through id, you should try paging through the apartment therapy archives. do you guys even read each others' posts?

WTF? This is just pretentious posturing! I'm with monkeyme - where's the function?
sheesh

If you go to their website and look at the other photos, it seems like this was a solution for a small space where very steep stairs were needed. It looks like two apartments (probably both small) were combined, making a new duplex. In the before shots there's a ladder sitting in the hole to the upstairs apartment.

http://www.tafarkitektkontor.se/projects.asp?id=107&imagename=Stair_4_TAF.jpg&nr=4

Seeing the context of these stairs, I think it's actually a pretty nifty solution to a design problem.

There is in fact function here, not just "pretentious posturing". Come on, people...

i am sure gettinf home owners insurance to cover those is a breeze.

safety in the home is so overrated.

loislane, thanks for finding that old link. I KNEW I'd seen these before, but I go to so many sites I figured it had to be somewhere else.

Where's the function?

Um, at both the bottom and top of the stairs...?