The staircase as furniture
In a narrow London terrace, a staircase built like a bookcase, and the room it made on the way up...
A terrace house has one problem it cannot solve: the stair takes a third of the width and gives nothing back. This one gives it back.
The idea
Treat the stair as a piece of furniture rather than a piece of structure. Build it from the same oak as the shelves, and let the shelves run up its side, so the wall that would have been dead becomes the library.
The landing
Widened by a foot, which cost the bedroom a foot and gave the house a room. A reading chair, a window, and the shelves within reach. It is where everyone ends up.
The joinery
Housed treads, no risers, so the light from the landing window falls through to the hall. The shelves are the same thickness as the treads and line up with them, which is the detail that makes it read as one thing.
One building a month, by email
A photograph, the plan, and the reason. Nothing else.
Hana Sato
Architect and one of the four partners. Writes most of what appears here and draws the plans with no furniture on them.
Folio
An architecture and interiors journal: houses, rooms, materials, and the reasons behind them.
Visit Site →