Building an External Staircase

Architect Nicholas James of Kast Architects explains how he introduced a sleek suspended steel staircase in his latest project

On our Sea Edge project in Cornwall [pictured], introducing an external staircase was a natural response to needing to provide an access point to the garden from the upstairs living spaces, without the clients having to go through the house and out of the utility room on the ground floor. The external stair offered a more dramatic way to move between levels, too. The key was to integrate this feature in a refined way, without the staircase looking clunky against the white render and timber-clad façade. We could have specified an easy-to-achieve ‘bolt-on’ addition. However, we decided that a cantilevered stair suspended downwards, with the final tread being a paving slab on the ground, would offer greater architectural interest. To achieve this, steel beams set within the frame of the…

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Homebuilding & Renovating (Digital) - 1 Issue, May 2018

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