Modern Staircases That Stand Out For Unique Reasons

Our desire to always go higher and our love for beauty inspired us to create some really amazing staircase designs. We’ve explored a few of the most creative ones a while back and now we found a few more to add to the list. Each of them stands out for unique reasons and each one has an interesting story to tell.

Residence Staircase by PSLAB

This is a staircase designed by PSLAB for a residence in Beirut. The most distinctive feature about it is its shape. The staircase spirals up and has a perfectly circular form and has no elements to connect it to other points of the rectangular space in which it’s located.

Residence Staircase Design by PSLAB

Another interesting detail about this staircase is the fact that it has a lighting fixture at the top. It mimics the circular form of the staircase but, at the same time, stands out on its own. A series of channels of different lengths feature light bulbs inside the rectangular shaped extended arms. The result is a lighting fixture attached to a sculptural staircase and both these elements are in perfect sync and complement each other wonderfully.

Swedbank office staircase design

The Swedbank building in Sundbyberg, Sweden, was a project by 3XN completed in 2014. The team focused on creating a modern office space with emphasis on simplicity and transparency. Architecturally-speaking, the building is defined by a triple V structure.

Swedbank office spiral staircase

The building’s seven floors are connected by two sculptural staircases that serve as the centers of activity for the interior spaces. The staircases spiral up like ribbons and serve as focal points for the open plan spaces.

Modern spiral staircase 65BTP by ONG-ONG

In the case of this modern residence designed by ONG&ONG Pte Ltd and located in Singapore, the really nice thing about the staircase is that, even though it’s a big structure that occupies a big portion of the living space, it doesn’t stand out at all.

Modern spiral staircase 65BTP by ONG-ONG1

In fact, if anything, the staircase could easily go unnoticed. It’s part of the living area and it disappears into the ceiling. It wraps around itself and is positioned in a way that allows it to blend in. The design of the staircase is very simple and a beautiful detail is the metal railing that follows its smooth curves.

Armani Fifth Ave

A sculptural and impressive staircase is also at the core of this Armani showroom. The structure has four levels and was conceived as a single huge space. The staircase that connects them has a very dynamic and sculptural design and its geometry offers the space a futuristic look.

Armani Fifth Ave Staircase

Every element of interior design follows the concept and the aesthetic generated by this staircase. When you look at this whole design from a distance, it becomes apparent that the staircase takes over the whole interior and resembles a whirlwind.

Polyforum Siqueiros Galleries

When renovating the ground floor galleries of the Polyforum Cultural Siqueiros in Maxico, the BNKR Arquitectura team had to remove a lot of elements from the interior. They got rid of the original carpet which covered the floor and the stairs and chose instead something simpler – a white epoxy finish.

Polyforum Siqueiros Galleries Staircase

The staircases were sanded and varnished and they kept their original charm. What’s beautiful about them is the fact that two individual staircases wrap around a central elevator column and they spiral up in a very elegant and sculptural way.

Horno 3 Steel Museum Yellow Stairs

In 2007, the Horno 3 Steel Museum in Maxico was restored by Grinshaw. The architects also added a new wing comprising a gallery space and museum facilities. Given the history of the site and the building, the renovation relies on structural elements that push the modern steel fabrication to the limits.

Horno 3 Steel Museum Closer Look To staircase

One example is the helical steel staircase which was designed using extensive computer stress analysis in order to allow the optimization of its cantilevering treads. The result was a futuristic-looking staircase with a modern, minimalist and extremely intriguing design.

citizenM Rotterdam by Concrete Architectural Associates Staircase

The citizenM hotel in Rotterdam is a very homey and welcoming place. Its interior is warm and inviting just like a home. In addition, the layout and the structure offer a sense of familiarity to their guests. A very beautiful space is the reading area.

citizenM Rotterdam by Concrete Architectural Associates Wood Staircase

It was organized around a spiral staircase which gracefully spirals up to offer access to the upper floor. A very large bookcase covers the wall behind it and a set of comfortable armchairs are placed on the other side and the space is defined by a circular area rug.

Flashback Casa Do Project Outside

Simplicity can take many forms and the same style and the same element can materialize differently depending on the details. A modern staircase, for example, can pretty much adopt an infinity of designs. The spiral staircase designed by architect Cazu Zegers for a residence located in Los Vilor, Chile, is very simple and sculptural.

Flashback Casa Do Project

The staircase wraps around a thin central axis and its treads are graceful but bulky. This type of design suits small spaces because it doesn’t occupy a lot of floor space. Although in this case the residence is not small overall, the staircase design was a wise choice for the area it’s located in.

Woodblock House by dRMM

A home should reflect the ones living in it and this concept was excellently applied when designing the house for artist Richard Woods. The studio responsible for the project is dRMM. The team found inspiration in the artist’s trademark cartoon-style prints and painted woodgrain graphics he applies to furniture.

Woodblock House by dRMM Staircase

This was the inspiration for the building’s facade and staircase. The treads feature a variety of different colors, forming a rainbow inside the house and ranging from pale shades of pink and white to vibrant greens, reds and blues. Similar panels were used from the front and rear facades of the house.

House of Memory Yellow Staircase

Given the exterior of this civil rights centre in Milan, nobody would even suspect that inside there’s a very bright and vibrant staircase. The facades of the building feature pixelated portraits created using bricks. They represent the city’s ethnically diverse population as well as significant moment in its history.

House of Memory Yellow Spiral

The interior, on the other hand, is drastically different. The design is simple and the focal point is a yellow spiral staircase that connects the three floors. The staircase was built of reinforced concrete and represents the element that connects the visitors and the rest of the building and everything inside it.

Old Water Tower Staircase

How do you transform an old water tower into an observation point? Dutch firm Zecc Architecten has the answer. The team managed to the this exact project in Netherlands where this water tower was a landmark for the city. Their task was to make the structure accessible to the public.

Old Water Tower Staircase Design

They managed to do that by twisting staircases through the middle of the tower. These allow visitors to reach a viewing platform from where they can enjoy 360 degree views of the surroundings. The exterior of the tower remained mostly unchanged.

Wooden Risa Spiral Staircase

The staircase that Tron Meyer designed is interesting and intriguing for a variety of reasons. First of all, it’s made entirely of laminated wood that’s been carved into steps. Since usually staircase are made of either concrete or steel, seeing one that’s manufactured from a single material that’s not among these two is refreshing.

Wooden Risa Spiral Staircase2

The cross-laminated timber was milled into precise profiles using computer-controlled machinery and this allowed the staircase to be optimized and to have sections that perfectly combine while also creating a large and dramatic design with a strong visual impact.

Hiroshi Nakamura Chapel view
Hiroshi Nakamura Chapel

Tokyo-based architect Hiroshi Nakamura designed two of the most impressive staircases in the world. That’s because they wrap around a wedding chapel and they meet at the rooftop. The staircases also gave the building its distinctive name: the Ribbon Chapel.

Hiroshi Nakamura Chapel Interior

The chapel is situated on a grassy hillside in Hiroshima Prefecture. It has glazed facades and looks really sculptural from a distance. That’s due to the intertwining staircase which wrap around the building and cross paths at several points to provide support for each other. They are symbolic for the unity offered by marriage.

Wood HYLA Design A Contemporary Home
Metalic HYLA Design A Contemporary Home

Very often, the staircase is a defining element for a residence. It’s the element that connects all the floors and that facilitates interaction, not to mention that it also serves as an aesthetic detail for the interior décor. In the case of this contemporary family home in Singapore, architecture firm HYLA integrated two completely different types of staircases.

Metalic staircase HYLA Design A Contemporary Home

One is simple and not exactly eye-catching, with glass safety rails and wooden treads. The second one connects the master bedroom to the study above. It’s a spiral staircase encased by metal bars similarly to a bird cage.

Casa-G-Francesco-Librizzi Geometric Staircase

The interesting thing about the staircase that connects the two floors in this fisherman’s cottage in Sicily is that it’s formed of a collection of wooden boxes and platforms supported by black metal framework. This offers the staircase a graphical ad eye-catching look. The stairs are divided into sections and some portions are enclosed by wood planks while others are fenced off by metal rods.

Geometric Staircase Casa G

The staircase connects the two bedroom and lounge area situated on the lower floor to the two other bedrooms on the upper level and the rooftop patio. It’s supported by thin metal rods and each tread functions as a self-supporting block.