Stair Project S2025

Stair Project S2025

Albright Foundation Design Lab

Students were asked to design a stair using at least one of three materials - wood, metal, glass. Some choose to limit themselves to one, while others utilize all three. To begin, they were asked to discover a stair designed by an architect they had researched (for another project) that inspired them. Another step in the research process involved a visit to the Art + Architecture Library to examine printed sets of working drawings of stairs for Kahn's Yale Art Museum, Botta's Bechtler museum, among others. Conceptual designs began to emerge in their sketchbooks as well as on their computers using Rhino.

Questions arose as to how their ideas might be built. What are the structural components necessary? What are the code requirements? Where does craft play a role? Designs were modified as the development addressed the questions. Physical 3-D modeling began with tests of hand-built techniques in our wood and metal shops. Everyone experienced at least one if not many failures of expectations. Designs evolved as students realized the image in the computer was not buildable. They constructed critical details in Rhino to gain understanding of how to physically model their designs at 1 ½ "= 1' - 0" with representative materials.Again, questions arose. How does the model represent curved wood, metal, or glass? How does the model represent a detail that is welded? How does the model represent a detail of tensioned cable? What is the support necessary for cantilever stairs? How much of the context is modeled? Questions kept emerging as the students documented their proposals in portfolio pages celebrating their first year of architecture education.

Here is a glimpse into the exploration of the immersive experience of making the imagined.