How to Festool these Floating Stairs?

[festoller]

I found these Floating Stairs on a design site. They are from a hotel in Milan and I guess their inspectors are a little more forgiving than in the rest of the world.

[attachimg=1]

Anyway apart form safety and code concerns, I really like the design and was thinking how to "Festool" a rigid version of a floating stair?

My first thought was 38 mm Multiplex and enough Dominos to make the frame, but on the photo it really doesn't look like 38 mm material, although I have no idea what kind of material they used. Then of course there's the question of how to fix the frame to the wall. In my case (if I would really consider building it) it's solid concrete, so at least that side of the construction is rigit enough, but it would also look great on a deck, roof acces or as maintenance stairway.

 

[AlexThePalex]

Festoller, I think you'll never succeed at this with wood, it just hasn't the rigidity and the joints won't be strong enough. I suspect the stairs must be made of metal to be strong enough.

 

[Alan m]

personally that looks like a computer generated image rather then a real world picture. i would like to see the real thing as what some designers come up with is completely deferent from what is made. from that pic there doesnt seam to be much supporting the outside edge, no racking strength, no support down to the ground.

i would suspect that wood couldnot cope with a build like this. it has to metal of some kind.

 

[festoller]

Alan:

I don't think it's animated, since it is from an exsiting hotel in Milan:

http://www.contemporist.com/2008/08/20/the-gray-hotel-in-milan-italy/

It was also linked to a site called Stairporn (great name, isn't it?) that features really exeptional stairs:

http://www.stairporn.org/

Many of the floating designs seem to be wood, although they appear thicker.

 

[BobKovacs]

Those stairs are steel- you can see at the lower outside corners that they're sheets that have been bent to form the boxes, and the seams at one of the corners are welded and ground.  You'd never (and I do mean NEVER) get wood to do that.

 

[pugilato]

I cant see what Bob refers to (lost my magnifying glass), but they would have to be steel covered with wood. 

 

[waynelang2001]

My guess would be that they are made of steel to. But I don't think a box was made and then bolted to the wall, I think the wall is most likely built around the top and bottom of each stair. So the steel is actually inset into the wall by at least half a meter or so, then the side panels are added to make you think they are just plain boxes on the wall. Then covered with a veneer to give the wood effect. my [2cents]

 

[L.J]

My guess would be that they are made of steel to. But I don't think a box was made and then bolted to the wall, I think the wall is most likely built around the top and bottom of each stair. So the steel is actually inset into the wall by at least half a meter or so, then the side panels are added to make you think they are just plain boxes on the wall. Then covered with a veneer to give the wood effect. my [2cents]

So your saying it's an optical illusion ? If so I agree,even in steel the way it looks wouldn't be stable.

 

[pugilato]

Maybe the wall was built around the stairs... Steel plate alone would not cut it, I think.  There would have to be angled pieces along the edges, and some significant bracing inside the wall.  Then the whole thing is covered in wood.  Who knows.  Anybody going to Milan?

 

[AlexThePalex]

My guess would be that they are made of steel to. But I don't think a box was made and then bolted to the wall, I think the wall is most likely built around the top and bottom of each stair. So the steel is actually inset into the wall by at least half a meter or so, then the side panels are added to make you think they are just plain boxes on the wall. Then covered with a veneer to give the wood effect. my [2cents]

So your saying it's an optical illusion ? If so I agree,even in steel the way it looks wouldn't be stable.

It's not an optical illusion, it is perfectly possible to make steel stairs this way. I had the same impression as wayne, that they're not just boxes bolted on the wall, but that the support beam to which those boxes are welded is built into the wall. Not half a meter though, more like 30cm/1ft. It looks like the steel is at least 2,5cm/1'' thick, and if you use hardened steel you can get incredible stiffness at that thickness, surely enough to support a human being.

I also don't think the floating steps are covered with wood, there's no texture to been seen. Only the right 3 steps are covered with wood, but they're not floating, they have a black box underneath.

 

[GreenGA]

There was an article in one of the Building/Woodworking magazines a few years ago on just such a setup.  The builder outlined everything he did to construct the floating stairs, steel,  and what was in the walls.

It made an interesting read.