When this Professional Services Client planned to relocate their office, they found a prime space in a downtown Toronto high-rise building that was stacked over four storeys. The design team's open concept office plan centered around the ideas of employee engagement and dynamic spaces for collaboration.

A main objective in achieving those ideas was to create a new architectural stair between all four storeys to facilitate employee movement and collaboration between floor areas. The stair would be located adjacent to the reception area and other collaboration areas, such as open break areas and conference rooms. Given this prominent location, the stair was paired with a feature wall which served as a guard along one edge of the floor opening.

Nicholas Jay Architect developed the stair's architectural details to fit the open office's concept of an exposed ceiling structure and modern lines of steel and glass. The stair's thin edge profile took form from a continuous bent steel plate supported over a central stringer. The steel plate stair treads were finished with a hardwood runner. Expanded metal mesh guards aligned with the armature of the wood panels on the feature wall, which were perforated in a pixel-like pattern of an abstract photograph stretched through all four storeys.