Stacked Stairs

First Year, Second Semester Studio Project

Starting from architectural precedents, the first project of the semester was to draw and analyze the geometries and logics of two stairs. I chose the stairs in Charles Moore’s Moore-Roger-Hofflander Condominium Building and in Paul Rudolph’s Boston Government Center. From our drawings, we had to create two geometric prototypes that retained the stair logic of our precedents. We then paired the two prototypes together to create a pair system of stairs. The midterm project introduced three identical rooms that adapted to and challenged the logic that our “stair-pair” had already established. We then were given a site in the Lower East Side of Manhattan and had to adapt our midterm proposal to fit with the geometry of the site and its surrounding context. My final project was a series of oblique rectangular rooms that were interconnected through two sets of stairs that wrapped around and filled the empty spaces of the site.