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

The efficient combination of timber, 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

1562x

Multi-Material Staircase (Wood, Steel, Glass)

Project Description

In this project, the first 3 glass stairs are fixed to the floor, followed by 1 landing step and 15 "crash" glass steps fixed on the outside by stainless-steel brackets to both the lateral wall and 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 at the top and bottom to glued-laminated timber poles. The curved glued-laminated timber stringer also acts as a handrail.

Design

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 rigidity of the glass was obtained by defining its composition in the RF-GLASS module.

This module was used to design and analyze 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 calculated forces absorbed by the stringer at the level of the stainless steel tie-rod fixings facilitated optimum dimensioning of the screwed timber anchors. A vibration analysis was also carried out. It showed a higher frequency than recommended to ensure operating comfort.