Designing a glass and steel staircase

Designing a glass and steel staircase is a choice of great architectural charisma. Lightness and airiness make up the structure and define the external look of a staircase which, despite its appearance, is in all respects stable and safe.

On a glass and steel staircase, each step seems to be suspended in the air and the volumes seem to disappear disguised by transparency and light.

Modern architecture gives a lot of space to the design of glass and steel staircases that represent the most current solution for connecting two floors. Designing stairs of this type is far from simple. It requires a particular type of glass and planning skills that allow the design of straight, arched, linear, safe free standing stairs with an attractive shape.

The minimal style is perfectly interpreted by the glass, which always guarantees a discreet and elegant result. Combined with steel it becomes an architectural work of great strength and durability.

The characteristics of a good staircase

A good glass and steel staircase has characteristics of:

strength;
durability;
aesthetics.

2Linear glass staircases, spiral, with or without parapet must meet essential requirements.

The steel and glass stairs are the result of a very accurate design, which takes into account the loads and the harmony of the whole, without fixing systems that affect the design.

Load-bearing glass and steel structures of these stairs, as indeed all structures, require a careful and scrupulous design that guarantees a suitable dimensioning.

The internal staircase of a house, for example, must be at least 80 cm wide, with a landing at least every 250 cm of difference in height. The tread is more comfortable if it is at least 30 cm deep and the rise is less tiring if it is not more than 17 cm.

With a modern style, glass and steel staircases can have various shapes chosen according to the context, the plan in which they are to be installed and in accordance with the requests of the designer and the client. In any case, it is essential that a staircase of this type is not anonymous, but stands out with personality in spite of its minimalist look.

Which glass is the best for it

When we design this type of staircase it is important to use a resistant glass, conceived to be used as a building material. The last few decades have seen a great use of glass in home furnishings, making it the protagonist of the most refined environments.

Therefore we can understand that his new role has required new construction technologies that deprive the glass sheets of their most common feature, fragility.

Glass has become a trendy material, which has been covering facades and creating settings for several decades, and the problem of fragility seems to no longer exist.

It is the type of treatment to which the glass is subjected that makes the difference. In fact, tempered glass or laminated glass is used for the load-bearing structures respectively obtained by:

glass tempering;
stratification.

Tempering is an industrial process which, through exposure to a strong thermal shock (from 650 ° -700 ° to fast cooling), makes the glass strong and safe. If broken, the tempered glass breaks into small pieces instead of creating dangerous sharp shards. This is the same type of glass used for windshields and car windows, and for tablet and smartphone screens.

Safe glass can also be obtained through the stratification treatment. By means of it, a type of glass is made composed of several superimposed slabs, interspersed with a transparent adhesive film in polyvinyl butyral (PVB). Everything is heat treated and pressed to release even the most microscopic air bubbles, ensuring maximum adherence between the glass sheets and the film.

In this case the broken glass does not generate dangerous splinters, but shatters into many small pieces that remain attached to the adhesive film.

The safety of the glass used for the design of staircases is governed by the strict directives of the EN 12150 standard, which every company must comply with to ensure the safety of its clients.

Capoferri glass stairs

Capoferri projects that include glass stairs are an example of style and, of course, safety.

Open staircases, glass parapets, partition glasses, spiral staircases, linear and freestanding structures: our solutions for glass stairs are many and all characterized by an exclusive design.

Although Capoferri is an excellence in the construction of windows, it boasts successful collaborations that have seen the company also involved in the design of glass stairs.

In architecture, the search for uniformity and harmony is an increasingly urgent need, which engages professionals in a careful study of materials and design capable of creating an aesthetically balanced work. Hence the involvement in designing and building glass staircases with a minimal and modern design.

Cutting-edge technology and creativity are the strengths of a company that has been dealing with windows and glass structures for generations. Our goal is always customer satisfaction.

We find an example of this in the Abu Dhabi Oil & Gas Industry. Here Capoferri found itself engaged in the design and construction of REI doors (Resistance Entretenir Isolement), windows, skylights, interior finishes and protections on the facade, but also in glass and stainless steel staircases, all rigorously blast-resistant, to resist in case of explosion and fire. Precisely the crystal and stainless steel staircase and the glass walls constitute the essential aesthetics of these spaces, in which lightness and a sense of freedom counterbalance the delicacy of the activities carried out inside the building.

Excellent in the use of the most suitable glass for every context, Capoferri designers are proud of important collaborations that have led the company to undertake increasingly complex works, which include not only windows, but also structures, partitions and furnishing accessories.