CAD

Wedge

Having the stairs as wedges increases strength greatly.

Blueprints

This is a print out of the illustrator file that I will get laser cut. The staggered steps are precisely placed and even the thickness of the material that it will be cut from has been taken into account to ensure a perfect allignment.

The sketch on the far right shows a way that the steps could fold out, instead of being completely flat, they could have a flat surface and an angled surface. This will make the whole step much stronger. The step and underside of the step will be different lengths. If I know how long the flat surface and the gap from where the flat surface joins the wall and where the angled surface joins the wall, I will be able to work out how long the angled surface is, as it is the hypotenuse.

Length of hypotenuse c = √(a² + b²)

Hinges?

I need to think of a better hinge solution than tape....

Mechanism Animation

Space saving mechanism model

These are photos of the space saving mechanism model. I think that I will make a bigger model of just one step to get a better understanding of the sliding mechanism.

This model is a more accurate version of previous models cut from foamcore, I have left a strip between each step for where the sliding rail mechanism will be. The steps look a little deep in this model, I think that I will reduce the tread depth. Standard tread depth is 10" in residential properties.

Previous mechanism

This is a sketch and a model of the previous mechanism. As you can see the mechanism extrudes into the wall space meaning that the volume of the room is reduced once the staircase is installed. The steps could either be all separately controlled by having each step linked to a separate motor or all moving as one by having each lever attached by cable to a motor driven spool.

Wallspace saving mechanism

This mechanism does not intrude into the existing wall space and therefore is a much better solution to the previous pivot idea as the staircase could be retro-fitted to existing houses without compromising on space in the room.

Interactivity

As mentioned in my last post, independent movement of each step allows interactivity. Pressure pads could be installed in the steps for excellent interactivity.

Powering the steps

The next design challenge is how to power the steps... Having a motor to each step will allow a great deal of flexibility in terms of the programming and animation of the steps. This will allow complex patterns and waves of movement, which would be purely visual and would have no functionality. However using more than one motor increases the complexity of the wiring to the power of each step used. By allowing each step to have independent movement could allow interesting interactive elements like in Michael Cross's "bridge" (pictured)

Sketch Model

This is a quick sketch model of the layout of the steps, I think that the negative imprint that the stairs leave behind after they have been respectively raised or lowered is visually quite a nice feature. Something about it being quite pixel-y and graphic helps the idea of it being very minimal and requiring very little effort from the user.

Solution

By having the last half of the stairs fold up instead of down stairs can reach right up to the ceiling, allowing the stair case to reach the 2nd story. I need to think of the mechanics of this, I will build some models to allow me to visualise this better.

Visual

I found this image online, visually my staircase will look similar as the steps will be freestanding coming out of the wall.

Fold out steps

This sketch shows how the steps will fold out of the wall. From their concealed state down to the functional revealed state. However as you can see in the sketch the last step does not have room to fold back into as the ceiling is only a few inches from the step. I will have to think of some alternative options for this.....

Stairs Interlude