Floating staircase

This "floating staircase" was designed by Jordi Vayreda of Jordivayreda Projectteam (Spain). It may look dangerous, but that's only because the guard-rails are made of the same invisible material as the risers. Link (via Neatorama)

[#1 posted by Craine , May 12, 2008 2:59 AM]

Wish I could get stuff like this done in the UK. Damn those building regs...

[#2 posted by johnrynne , May 12, 2008 3:43 AM]

I work in a building (coincidentally, in Spain) where there are apartments with this type of stairs (only with a real banister, not the unobtainium version seen above). The problem is that they have a lot of wobble, which transfers through to the flat next door (whose stairs are a mirror image). Result: your stairs wobbles when your neighbour goes up or down.

[#3 posted by Chief Jimbo , May 12, 2008 5:17 AM]

That looks awesome. Sorry about the next comment but I can't hold back the engineer in me:

OSHA Regulation
§1910.24(h) Standard railings shall be provided on the open sides of all exposed stairways and stair platforms. Handrails shall be provided on at least one side of closed stairways preferably on the right side descending. Stair railings and handrails shall be installed in accordance with the provisions of §1910.23.

[#4 posted by Outtacontext , May 12, 2008 5:47 AM]

the guard-rails are made of the same invisible material as the risers

You mean a force field? ;-)

Many years ago I had stairs with no railing going up to my bedroom loft. I had a light with a timer on it so I could see at night. One night the timer failed to go on. High jinx at the closest Emergency Room ensued.

[#5 posted by FredicvsMaximvs , May 12, 2008 6:00 AM]

@ #3: The O on OSHA stands for Occupational. As in, the place where you work, not the place where you live.

If you employ a babysitter or housekeeper, you might have a valid reason to invoke OSHA, but otherwise I think it doesn't apply.

[#6 posted by Guysmiley , May 12, 2008 6:12 AM]

#5: You're right, but I guarantee that all state building codes specify a requirement for railings on an exposed stairwell.

[#7 posted by Pipenta , May 12, 2008 7:00 AM]

If the state doesn't demand it, your insurance company sure as heck will...

[#8 posted by cinemajay , May 12, 2008 9:00 AM]

I bet these will be popular in old folks homes.

[#9 posted by ablestmage , May 12, 2008 9:01 AM]

There's no way that's happening at my house, building code or otherwise. I've got somewhat unsteady balance as it is, I don't need the illusion of instability working against me ^_^

[#10 posted by pentomino , May 12, 2008 9:16 AM]

Did you just say it was safer than it looks because there are invisible support structures shooting out above and below it?

I've banged my shins on too many glass coffee tables to be anywhere near OK with that.

[#11 posted by buddy66 , May 12, 2008 9:30 AM]

What a rock-dumb idea. Stop them before they think of something else.

[#12 posted by Bonnie , May 12, 2008 11:26 AM]

All I keep seeing are all the future grubby hand prints against the white wall people will be using to steady themselves against as they attempt to go down those stairs.

[#13 posted by Jeff , May 12, 2008 11:41 AM]

This is beautifully simplistic, and might be more sturdy if steel was bolted or welded to the support column. Just use a force field for the side.

[#14 posted by Antinous , May 12, 2008 11:54 AM]

Some of us don't require stairs in order to fall down.

[#15 posted by dculberson , May 12, 2008 1:40 PM]

What's old is new again! The Incas were doing this in stone thousands of years ago - without the "invisible hand rail." They aren't exactly confidence inspiring to climb, but they're really cool looking:

http://www.davestravelcorner.com/photos/Peru/machu-picchu/Machu-Picchu-Inca-Steps.jpg

[#16 posted by Alexandre Van de Sande , May 12, 2008 1:43 PM]

I have one of these in my room!
Gosh I feel stiley now!

[#17 posted by Antinous , May 12, 2008 2:36 PM]

The Incas were doing this in stone thousands of years ago

That picture is a panic attack waiting to happen.

[#18 posted by mesrop , May 12, 2008 2:59 PM]

My old man built the same thing for my brothers place, it was awesome but I remember my sister in laws first reaction when she saw it. "how is he going to get upstairs drunk?..." A rail was later put in.

[#19 posted by David Bruce Murray , May 12, 2008 5:59 PM]

Will these stairs float to more than one opening on the upper level...a la Harry Potter?

[#20 posted by Tenn , May 12, 2008 8:52 PM]

So do you lose your balance abilities when you get old, Antinous? Is this another reason for me to live life fully and die young ala Caesar?

[#21 posted by Antinous , May 12, 2008 9:03 PM]

Balance is a big marker for functional age. You can maintain your faculties if you use them and sometimes you can get them back. I had really terrible balance before I started yoga and now it's quite good. I have students in their fifties and sixties who regain good balance through practice, but so far none of my seventy and eighty year olds have shown much improvement.

[#22 posted by Takuan , May 12, 2008 9:16 PM]

is a mono-molecular filament a good choice for a guard rail? It looks great but -

[#23 posted by Tenn , May 12, 2008 9:21 PM]

Antinous- what on earth do you do? I've heard references to yoga, to working in hospital, to a job that allows you to peruse bOING- what do you DO?

[#24 posted by Antinous , May 12, 2008 9:30 PM]

The thing about being fifty is that you have about three decades of past employment. I worked in a hospital for almost twenty years. I had a half-time volunteer job in a botanical garden for ten of those years. I went to school for interior design but never practiced. I was a realtor for three bitter years. Now I teach yoga, meditation, tarot, dream interpretation and related subjects and work as a phone psychic.

[#25 posted by Sister Y , May 12, 2008 9:35 PM]

(a) I thought you were like 30.
(b) I can't believe you didn't get on my case for hating on Jung.

[#26 posted by Takuan , May 12, 2008 9:40 PM]

spread a Celtic Cross for me then, Significator: Page of Wands.

[#27 posted by Antinous , May 12, 2008 9:47 PM]

I can't believe you didn't get on my case for hating on Jung.

You gotta pick your battles. Besides, everybody gets to pick their own philosophical and spiritual metaphors. There's no right answer.

spread a Celtic Cross for me then

I'm not a particularly good tarot reader. I mostly teach it as a tool for self-reflection. I'll look at your cards tomorrow when I'm perkier.

[#28 posted by scottfree , May 12, 2008 9:50 PM]

Do you work for Madam Cleo? What's she like? j/k

[#29 posted by Sister Y , May 12, 2008 9:53 PM]

I do have an unhealthy love for Freud's Interpretation of Dreams.

[#30 posted by Takuan , May 12, 2008 9:56 PM]

Jung.... trying to remember... was it him,or perhaps Arthur Koestler?... someone who found a skull from the Great War in a pond on his family's property and set it on a pole... not Oliver Sacks?... because of the skull-bong thread

[#31 posted by Tenn , May 12, 2008 10:05 PM]

I'm in, Antinous. Spread 'em!

[#32 posted by scottfree , May 12, 2008 10:07 PM]

Freud and Jung are fairly well opposed to each other. Jung used psychoanalysis to push a spiritual agenda, while Freud, completely cognizant of his ignorance, pursued the meaning of thought itself.

I have Interpretation of Dreams on audiobook, and just last weekend ill advisedly listened to it whilst power sanding my mate's porch--he paid me in beer. Anyway, I put several new holes in my Chucks as a result of drifting away while listening to it. Damn you Freud. Why was I so repulsed by the job of moving something back and forth?

[#33 posted by Sister Y , May 12, 2008 10:22 PM]

I have Interpretation of Dreams on audiobook, and just last weekend ill advisedly listened to it whilst power sanding my mate's porch--he paid me in beer.

That's . . . awesome.

Takuan, I love that story and I hope it's Koestler, though setting a skull on a pole seems like an awfully optimistic act for him.

[#34 posted by Takuan , May 12, 2008 10:30 PM]

figures,first Sack's image
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Oliver_Sacks.jpg

[#35 posted by Antinous , May 12, 2008 10:43 PM]

Do you work for Madam Cleo? What's she like?

That's Miss Cleo. She's a lesbian, not really Jamaican (that's a shock!) and I don't know if she views herself as legit or not. I guess her 'network' was a scam. The service that I work for has safeguards built into the system to keep things honest and to discourage overspending.

[#36 posted by Antinous , May 12, 2008 10:50 PM]

Oh. And I knew you were going to say that.

[#37 posted by noen , May 12, 2008 11:01 PM]

everybody gets to pick their own philosophical and spiritual metaphors

Jiddu Krishnamurti was pretty influential for me. Not that I've kept up on that end of things.