apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

very sexy, but this can't be in the usa, the bldg codes just wouldn't permit it.

i'm pretty sure i would fall down. a lot.

a masochist's staircase?

I am a klutz and having this in the house should require me to pay more health insurance.

beautiful but deadly.

I much prefer the stairs that are wavy and flowing from all points of view except for when you're climbing them....trying to find a picture now

There's an awful lot of "form over function" showing up here the past couple weeks...

Does it come with a neck brace?

These TAF stairs are from Sweden where they must have better balance than we do. :)

If we're going for uneven, I prefer these stairs at Wells Cathedral:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ef/WellsStair.jpg

It's a modernist version of half-step stairs -- which were in another post on the site (the man in Portland with the little green garage-house?). Definitely not to code in most U.S. jurisdictions, but not necessarily unsafe for an able-bodied adult if you know to expect them.

I'm quite certain they are not as wonky as they appear once you are ascending/ decending them.

I had the opportunity to visit some very old homes in the East... built by sea captains... and the stairs are very narrow and winding. These aren't so different. I mean really... how much of your foot do you put on a step when you're taking stairs anyway?

Or maybe I'm different... those of us who wear high heels only place the ball of our foot on a step to begin with.

This is just a fancy version of an alternating tread stair:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staircases#Alternating_tread_stairs

which IS allowed in the US for storage or areas that are not often used. They work because you don't need two feet on one stair - so on a regular stair (if you always started on the same foot), you would eventually find the worn spots on the stairs would alternate - left side on the 1st, 3rd, 5th, etc., and right side on the 2nd, 4th, 6th, etc. If you think about it, it really makes sense, because you don't need the steps to go all the way across!

Actually, these are not from over function. These are half step stairs, which are used if you need to install a staircase and keep the footprint small. They take up 50% less space than a traditional staircase.

beautiful as a piece of art, awful as stairs.

wow, I can't even imagine the insurance nightmare........to say nothing of anyone over the age of 50 trying to negotiate them without killing themselves in the process.

Over the age of fifty? I'm nowhere near that, and they look like a deathtrap to me.

Yikes! A bit dicey, don't you think?

it seems like you'd have to put your foot on the very far side of the step in order to get a good foothold.

No thanks! I stick to regular stairs (or actually, NO stairs, in my little apartment!).

These are fine to go up and relatively OK for going down (with 1 hand on railing). Alternating tread stairs were invented by Santos Dumont. His house is now a museum and you can climb the stairs. The ones at his house are rounded and perhaps a little more comfortable t go up and down. Maybe those funky angular ones would be harder to use. I've used the ones at his house with no problem and my elderly relatives took it slow but managed.

You can see a small picture of the rounded version of the stairs here: http://www.maria-brazil.org/santos_dumont.htm

i'm scared.

I could get up them just fine. Coming down is a different story.

Gorgeous and treachurous.

Love it, wouldn't want to have to live with it.

I couldn't vote. I love them, but there are way too many klutzy people and children in my life.