Yesterday we had a brief meeting at ISA to discuss the progress on the construction documents and the general kitchen design. Hopefully more on the kitchen design later as we have a meeting lined up with Pappajohn Woodworking to discuss sustainable options.
Anyways, the point of this post is the plywood stairs proposed by ISA. They have gained inspiration from the modern, plywood stairs built in the Chicken Point Cabin by OSKA Architects. Their project uses a lot simple materials such as plywood and concrete in the same theme as our project.
The stair shown and the one ISA has designed is constructed entirely of plywood. It gains the structural strength required by gluing three sheets together for the treads and supporting walls. ISA also added some rectangular cutouts in the walls to mimic the window openings in the facades. The supporting walls also orient the sheets of plywood in the same direction as the plywood floor on the second floor so it will appear as an extension of the floor from the second floor view.
I am still a bit skeptical of whether we can afford to pull this design off, but I love it and we will do our best to get it in.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I know you are already deep into the kitchen design but I just saw this post on Remodelista and thought of your project. Simple, clean and movable.
http://www.remodelista.com/2008/04/17/kitchen-parisian-storage-on-wheels/#comments
Thanks for the great blog!
Nate
Excellent link Nate, thanks!
Chad,
I love those stairs! Just brilliant and beautiful! Cost is a concern though. Also can you get away with no risers, from a code stand point? If you can that would be just a beautiful stair.
I too have been thinking of using plywood for stairs, but on a tradition set up. My biggest concern is the edges chipping when shoes are run across them. Does anyone have any ideas as to seal the cut exposed ends?
Tyler – Using a good multi-core plywood like Apple Ply should solve this problem. One where all the voids in each layer are filled so the sheet is completely solid all the way through…