By
Mariele Marki lives on the fifth floor of House 39, a new rental building on East 39th Street in Manhattan that is awash in indulgent amenities. The apartment building also has a perfectly nice elevator that stops on all 36 floors. But after walking her dog, Ms. Marki, a marketing consultant who is 26, often takes the stairs to her apartment — starting with the sculptural staircase that spirals up the double-height lobby to the second floor, where she can grab a coffee from the lounge before continuing up on the fire stairs.
“Every little bit helps keep you a little more fit,” she said. Hammams and wine cellars top many amenity lists for new developments, but staircases? In upscale buildings that go all out to pamper residents, a feature that requires exertion might seem counterintuitive. But over a century and a half after the modern elevator was invented, many developers, architects and designers are bringing staircases to the fore, to add drama, evoke a bygone era, and activate common areas — or activate residents themselves.
And developers are going to considerable lengths to do so. House 39’s spiral, for instance, is 17½-feet tall, and the Canadian company that manufactured it had to trench the floor of its factory to accommodate the height. Rockwell Group, designer of the building’s interiors, took inspiration for the form from House 39’s curved glass facade, and specified a curved glass balustrade. David Rockwell, the firm’s founder — and a self-avowed “stair fan” — is particularly enamored of the staircase’s mirror-polished bronze underside, which reflects movement and contributes to what he described as the lobby’s dynamism.
Winston Fisher, a partner in Fisher Brothers, the building’s developer, said the cost for the set of the steps — about $1 million — was worth it. “We wanted something cool and artistic and stylish and memorable,” he said.
For the full #NYTimes article click here.
Mariele Marki lives on the fifth floor of House 39, a new rental building on East 39th Street in Manhattan that is awash in indulgent amenities. The apartment building also has a perfectly nice elevator that stops on all 36 floors. But after walking her dog, Ms. Marki, a marketing consultant who is 26, often takes the stairs to her apartment — starting with the sculptural staircase that spirals up the double-height lobby to the second floor, where she can grab a coffee from the lounge before continuing up on the fire stairs.
“Every little bit helps keep you a little more fit,” she said. Hammams and wine cellars top many amenity lists for new developments, but staircases? In upscale buildings that go all out to pamper residents, a feature that requires exertion might seem counterintuitive. But over a century and a half after the modern elevator was invented, many developers, architects and designers are bringing staircases to the fore, to add drama, evoke a bygone era, and activate common areas — or activate residents themselves.
And developers are going to considerable lengths to do so. House 39’s spiral, for instance, is 17½-feet tall, and the Canadian company that manufactured it had to trench the floor of its factory to accommodate the height. Rockwell Group, designer of the building’s interiors, took inspiration for the form from House 39’s curved glass facade, and specified a curved glass balustrade. David Rockwell, the firm’s founder — and a self-avowed “stair fan” — is particularly enamored of the staircase’s mirror-polished bronze underside, which reflects movement and contributes to what he described as the lobby’s dynamism.
Winston Fisher, a partner in Fisher Brothers, the building’s developer, said the cost for the set of the steps — about $1 million — was worth it. “We wanted something cool and artistic and stylish and memorable,” he said.
For the full #NYTimes article click here.
Comments
Post a Comment