Instagram. 8 Examples of stairs that do double-duty as bookshelves. 1. These stairs in a beach house in Sydney, Australia, designed by Luigi Rosselli Architects Photography © Justin Alexander 2. These stairs in a home in Seongnam, South Korea, designed by mlnp Architects 3. Photography by Filip Dujardin 4. Photography by Marcel van der Burg 5. Photography by Devon Banks 6. Photography by Armando Elias 7. Photography by Namgoong Sun 8.
Photography by Jonas Adolfsen. Japanese studios Sandwich and Team Low-Energy used three truckloads of timber to create the sculptural facade of this Tokyo house that also boasts a two-storey-high library and an indoor swing (+ slideshow). Kyodo House is designed to be as sustainable as possible, both in its layout and in the materials chosen to build it. For the facade, Sandwich and Team Low-Energy selected wooden offcuts. Drawing inspiration from the work of artist and Sandwich founder Kohei Nawa, the team chose to fix wooden lengths to the walls at an angle, creating a textured surface of varying tones and widths. Architect Yuichi Kodai describes the result as "warm and rustic, but still contemporary". "The type, size, thickness and age of the timber used on the facade is at random," he told Dezeen.
"The most challenging parts were dividing the timbers according to the assembly rules, and physically constructing the facade whilst maintaining the continuity of the diagonal lines around the corner of volumes. " Taiwanese studio HAO Design installed a play area in the kitchen of this family home so the children could spend more time with their parents. HAO configured the space to suit a family of four who wanted to be closer together whilst at home.
"People today have such busy lifestyles that time spent together with other family members has become more precious than ever," said the architects. "Our client's biggest concern when arranging the interior decoration of their new home was to have a natural, open feel that would provide inspiration for their children's creative activities," they continued. The slide was designed especially for the family's little girl, and is accessed via a set of stairs that double up as a bookcase. A white-painted wooden wall with window-shaped cutouts creates a secluded playhouse area, while a cushion-covered reading space is tucked underneath. "The slide is the little girl's own special space," said the architects. Photography is by Hey Cheese. An alternating-tread staircase doubles as storage cupboards in this tiny Paris apartment by French architects Schemaa (+ slideshow).
Schemaa had to maximise space in the small apartment, so combined the wooden staircase with storage cabinets and drawers. Cupboards of different heights are concealed by doors measuring the same width as the stair treads. The feature is located inside a room that acts as both dining and living areas, opposite kitchen units fronted with the same wood. More shelves are positioned at the bottom of the staircase, creating almost a full wall of storage to keep the room free of clutter.
The dining table can be dismantled so its legs mount onto hooks on the wall and the surface can be mounted up between the windows. Behind the units sits a bathroom, accessed from the small entrance space. Upstairs is an attic bedroom, with a low bed positioned under the sloping ceiling, which features exposed wooden beams and roof windows. Jarmund/Vigsnæs Arkitekter have designed a cottage for a writer in Oslo, Norway, located in the backyard of their home.
The architect’s description This small annex is located in the garden of two professionals in a suburban residential area. The clients wanted a space that would allow them to isolate themselves to focus on their writing and work, while at the same time offering a generous view over the surroundings. Their intention was that the project would work as an alternative to a cottage in the countryside. The project is located at the edge of a north-facing slope towards a railway station, with dense shrubs below and on either side. To maximize the view, the entire north facing façade consists of glass, providing ample natural light for the workspace inside. In order to not obstruct the view, the desk is made completely out of glass. The project rises in height towards the south, in order to reach above the neighbor’s hedge and allow direct sunlight to flow in to the interior.
Stairs double as bookcase in loft conversion by Tamir Addadi. Tamir Addadi Architecture has converted the loft of a north London house, adding a staircase that also serves as a spacious bookcase (+ slideshow). The London studio added a combined bedroom and study beneath the roof of the Muswell Hill home, but also included a staircase that connects the new room with the ground floor and doubles up as storage. Books can be housed in individual compartments alongside the steps, which were created by the addition of shelving rails fixed between painted wooden panels. With space at an absolute minimum – the first-floor landing measures just 160 centimetres wide – the conversion needed to make the most of a limited area without blocking out essential light. "We aimed to achieve a sense of lightness in this space, despite the introduction of such a large element," Tamir Addadi said in a statement.
A south-facing skylight was designed and installed for the new loft room to bring in additional natural light. Photography is by Tamir Addadi. Architects: SoNo arhitekti Location: Slovenia Architect In Charge: Edvard Blažko, Marko Volk, Nina Tešanović, Nejc Batistič Area: 340.0 sqm Project Year: 2013 Photographs: Courtesy of SoNo arhitekti From the architect. This one-family residence is surrounded by nature overlooking the Austrian Alps. It's located in a small village more than 800 m above the sea level connected with the famous skiing region of Kitzbuehel. This hillside home features three levels of living spaces in stepped design following the layout of the site's steep slope. Main entrance is designed from it's street side and leads to an open space mid level area with a stunning view – a paneled glass wall overlooks the valley and the mountains as far as the eye can see. Inside the living spaces and the master bedroom it feels like you're floating out into the distant landscape.
Main entrance is located on the street side and leads to an open space mid level area with a stunning view to the Alps. Architects: Paz Gersh Architects Location: Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel Area: 450.0 sqm Year: 2015 Photographs: Oded Smadar From the architect. The site is a small lot in a condensed urban neighborhood which consists of small town houses. The program was planned for a family with children. In planning D-house, the main design concept was planning a section for an urban townhouse in which the upper floor shifts away from the neighboring wall.
This section enabled a space for an upper floor patio to be created. The patio acts as green room in the living quarters, and the bedrooms are arranged around it. The public spaces on the ground are planned in an open plan layout. In the proposed plan, a two story steel library was planned to connect the spaces between the ground and upper floors. In planning the stairs an array of materials were used to signify the change from public to private spaces. Materials and Products: Architects: MM++ architects Location: Nhà Bè, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam Architect In Charge: Mỹ An Pham Thi Area: 280.0 sqm Year: 2014 Photographs: Hiroyuki Oki From the architect. The house is built on a 10m wide and 20m deep plot in a residential suburb district of Saigon. The raised ground floor with the kitchen, the dining and the platform area, is one single space, fully open on three sides from the front yard, the garden to the pool in the back. High fence walls provide privacy, prevent from direct sun light and intrusion.
The landscape, with a mix of high and middle height trees and wall growing plants, is surrounding the construction. On the first floor, the living room and the staircase get benefit of permanent crossing ventilation through the recycled bricks wall openwork. Attic space is converted into a large bedroom. The palm leaves are layered on the roof slab to prevent the concrete to heat during the hot hours of the day. Dezeen Fagerstrom-House 12.
Dezeen House-in-a-Pine-Wood-by-Sundaymorning-and-Massimo-Fiorido-Associati 1sq. ATT00014. Escalier-bibliothèque. Escalier-bibliothèque.