Climbing the stairs for a book - The stair case library (GALLERY)

Book shelves alongside a stair case are not really an innovative idea, but Levitate Architects of London created a library style book stair case with such elegance that the stuffy stair case area transformed into a celebrated piece of furniture.
Certainly Levitate live up to their slogan: “We practice inventive common sense. As our designs develop, they should be exciting, intriguing and seem obvious.”
They came up with an ingenious solution to the large book collection of the occupants living in a small flat. Levitate saw possibilities to extend the flat into the unused loft space, creating a new bedroom level and increasing the floor space of the flat considerably. Limited by space, they melded the idea of a staircase with the client’s desire for a library to form a ‘library staircase’ in which English oak stair treads and shelves are both completely lined with books. With a skylight above lighting the staircase, it becomes the perfect place to stop and browse a tome. The stair structure is an upside down ‘sedan chair’ structure designed by Rodrigues Associates, Structural Engineers of London and carries the whole weight of the stair and books back to the main structural walls of the building. It dangles from the upper floor thereby avoiding complications with the lower floor neighbours.