Continuation of my summer internship at Randy Brown Architects, Omaha, NE
The interior wall stairs are completed. In keeping with the play of entering and touching the wall as the viewer ascends, the exterior stairs needed to be similar in nature, but provide a different material to traverse on. The solid folding stairs were the antithesis to the open metal risers inside the wall. The folding plans create the stair for the occupant. The manipulation of the material into an ergonomic stepping surface is the human affect on the staircase. The railings are the next interaction allowing a moment to touch and be guided around the structure; it never touches and stays a distance from all the objects; the railings are human.
The bar progresses to take a skin. We first built the double stud skeleton for the entire bar solving structural issues and keeping a couple steps in front of what we are doing. The entire bar design was a continuous folding wall that erupted from the basement floor and ascended to engulf the bar stage. The fold leaps forward and soars overhead across the entire stage. The fold breaks free from this axis and angles back to the ground for a short time then back toward the original fold. At this point it stops; it is done. The fold is not dead, just in suspended animation, waiting for its chance to carry on. The skin is made of lath that conforms to the structure below. The object in the tube begins to solidify. The high resolution and transparency of the skin create a sanctuary for daylight and shadows to hide. The forms suspended state becomes a frame for the view, the view that most will see first upon entrance. 
More projects on the site
21 Comments
nice stairs!
wow! post some drawings..
wow! post some drawings..
ahhh. the beauty of slave labor!
nice work, sounds like an awesome internship... slave labor or not, you get to do some cool shit and build it.
don't know any of the circumstances cited above so i'll just say that this project is yummy! seems like you must be having a good experience, too, unless you're holding out on us. ?
as i get older, when i look at stairs, i don't say to myself. wow, awesome design, great details, dynamic and thrilling. no, i say to myself will i fall down these mothers or not????
What guage of steel and perf. size/center size is that folded steel piece of treads/risers?
It looks really thin and transparent. Pretty cool.
don't have to be old vado.
when i see stairs i ask myself, "will my 2 year old fall through the f@cking gap and die a horrible death, or not?" architects are seriously anal about purity of design vs safety, sometimes. not a chance i would let her wthin an inch of those steps.
that said, it is a good project. and looks an amazing experience. and the whole thing is only slightly abused by an amazing display of archi-babble. ;-)
Thanks for all the posts! It has been an amazing learing experience for all us students. We are all from Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas areas. I posted some of the earlier drawings a few posts ago on my blog - Look under "University of Nebrakska at Lincoln- student blog."
What guage of steel and perf. size/center size is that folded steel piece of treads/risers?
- The perf steel is 3/16". The whole sheets were cut and bent and numbered to match the next stair by a metal fab shop. We installed them and found it to be very tricky to match up the holes and weld (credit to Claude and Dale the "steel team.")
Alex
Jump - Fair play with the "archi-babble." I sometimes get in a groove when writting and I dont' shut-up. Although this project, unlike other "archi-babble" projects; got built ;-)
that's a very big difference, gotta admit.
to be fair, archi-babble is much more preferable than the cheese-speak found on far too many office websites (even some of the starchitects are not immune). if i read one more blurb explaining how the office assures quality and timely work, on budget and how they welcome challenges and blah blah blah...oooh, makes me cringe ;-)
so, when are the next aia awards?
so, when are the next aia awards?
the local AIA awards are sept. 14-16. If you didnt' catch-it, Randy recieved a AIA National award for Bizzare.
Alex, the photos look great, this blog is an excellent idea, great work this summer, Im looking forward to revisiting the site when things are in a more completed state.
how many females were involved with this project?
lots of hard work and it looks great!
cheers!
The universities seems to be very busy and the universities has more interesting things to do with the new technology. It looks very interesting.
............
Shani
Nebraska Treatment Centers
If I think management is an excellent in this site..
...............
Malshi
Social Media Marketing
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.