Multi-Material Home Staircase (Wood, Steel, and Glass)

The efficient combination of wood, steel, and glass composing this staircase, fashioned by the YLEx design office, provides a soothing perspective of lightness.

Display of Staircase Deformation Under Self-Weight

1552x

Multi-Material Staircase (Wood, Steel, Glass)

Project Description

In this project, the first 3 glass steps are rooted into the floor, followed by 1 landing step and 15 crash glass steps fixed on the outside by stainless-steel brackets both to the lateral wall and to a metal rack. The steps are suspended on the inside through stainless-steel tube tie rods from a glued-laminated timber stringer, which is anchored both at the top and the bottom to glued-laminated timber poles. The curved glued-laminated timber stringer also acts as a handrail.

Design Process

The design was performed by the YLEx engineering office using FEA software RFEM. The overall study of the staircase considers the orthotropic behavior of the timber, the stiffness of the glass, and the isotropic behavior of the steel. The modeling of the curved glued-laminated timber stringer could be generated through an orthotropic quadrangle surface with a 2D elastic orthotropic material property. The stiffness of the glass was managed by defining its composition in the RF-GLASS module.

This module was operated for the calculation and design of the glass steps. The forces taken into account for the dimensioning of both the steps and the entire staircase abide by the Eurocode standards as well as their French National Annexes. The designed forces taken over by the stringer towards the stainless steel tie rods have efficiently eased the dimensioning of the inserts screwed into the timber. A vibration study was also performed, which demonstrated a higher frequency than the originally recommended one in order to ensure an acceptable operating standing.