Gizmodo: stairs

12 Beautiful Staircases That Could Easily Kill You

Sean Fallon — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:40:00 EST

The guys at Oddee have put together a list of 12 of the most "creative" staircases that designers have conjured up. Creative...yes. Deadly...you bet.

My personal choice for the deadliest staircase has to go to the Samlot. It can kill or maim you in two ways: either you fall off it completely or you over-step and catch your leg in the open gap between each stair. But, again, that is just my opinion. Check out the rest of the list to determine which design you think best sacrifices safety for aesthetics. I also humbly submit lucky number 13th your consideration. [Oddee via Fark]

These Piano Stairs Will Motivate Even The Laziest of You

Rosa Golijan — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:30:00 EDT

I'm a stair-taker because elevators and escalators give me nightmares, but for all those lazy folks who don't have fear motivating them to take the steps, there are these piano stairs. How could you not want musical accompaniment like that?

OK, so maybe you don't want to hear a playful tune as you skip up and down steps. It's still a fun idea and apparently showed a huge increase in individuals taking the stairs. [YouTube via Marco G.]

Alternating Tread Stair Looks Painful If You Slip

Jason Chen — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:20:00 EDT

Not only can you possibly slip off the side and cut a gash in your face on these crazy tread stairs, you could slip and fall crotch first onto the middle bar.

Very useful for keeping fatties off the 2nd floor, as well as making sure your children NEVER RUN UP THE STAIRS. That is, if you're still viable to have children after all those accidents. [Costel21d via Treehugger]

Staircase Slide Combo Built By The Coolest Parents Ever

Sean Fallon — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 11:20:00 EDT

At the request of his children, London architect Alex Michaelis installed a slide next to the staircase in their new eco-friendly dream home.

Here we see on of his children throwing caution to the wind and diving head first down the slide. But it's not just the kids having fun:

"We tend to have a lot of the kids' friends around-they're here perhaps more than at some of the other parents' homes," Michaelis says, adding that even grown-ups can't resist skipping the stairs. "We've been known after a big dinner party to use the slide."

No kidding—this is better than an elevator any day. Although, Michaelis' setup doesn't hold up to Rod Miller's spiral stair slide with fiber optic lighting. [Cookie Mag via Bloesem Kids via Neatorama]

Door in the Floor Leads to Amazing Spiral Wine Dungeon

Adam Frucci — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:10:00 EST

Rich wine nerds have a wine cellar. Very, very rich wine nerds install a door in their kitchen floor leading to a spiral staircase surrounded by wine, which is the coolest wine cellar ever.

In addition to being certifiably badass, a spiral wine cellar uses the ground to keep bottles at an ideal temperature without needing any fancy electronics. It saves space and, sure, why not, let's call it cost effective.

The Spiral Cellars come in sizes that can hold between 1000 and 1600 bottles, which is about 997 to 1597 more bottles than I usually have on hand. But if I had a trap door in my floor leading to a spiral cellar? I'd have closer to 15 bottles. Believe it!

Oh, and these start at $30,000, which is a lot of wine money, so you'd better have some serious scratch if you want to get on board. [Spiral Cellars and The Kitchn via Notcot.org]

StairCASE's Bottom Shelves Keep Highest Books in Reach

Elaine Chow — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:30:00 EDT

It's no surprise that a dude who lives in a city of 18 million people would appreciate the need to conserve space. Shanghai-based artist Danny Kuo created the StairCASE, a bookcase where the shelves slide out to become a stairwell. We've seen the amalgamation of shelves and stairs before in London, but StairCASE can be put just about anywhere. The design lets you have a much taller bookshelf (most top out at roughly six feet to accommodate human height), or functions as a way to reach a lofted area for sleeping or storage. I could've used something like this in New York. [Danny Kuo via Craziest Gadgets]

StairSteady Helps the Elderly Climb Stairs on Shaky Legs

Adam Frucci — Wed, 14 May 2008 12:10:00 EDT

Ruth Amos, an 18-year-old student from the UK, has come up with a simple and ingenious device for helping the elderly hobble their way up stairs with as little chance of hip-breakage as possible. Dubbed the StairSteady, it's essentially a bar that one can hold onto as they walk up the stairs, moving up or down with them while they move and keeping them steady. It's a bit pricey at $642 due to the absolutely worthless US dollar, but that's a lot cheaper than a hip replacement. Kudos, Ruth. [BBC via Popgadget]

Disappearing Wall Stairs Should Be In Every Millionaire's Home

Adrian Covert — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:04:18 EDT

Aaron Tang's wall stairs are meant for living areas that are short on space, but they're so awesome that I'd want them even if I had 1,000,000 sq. ft. house. They work by having the frame of the stairs slide out from the wall, powered by hydraulic pistons, and having the stair planks fold over the frame one at a time. When finished, the stair frame slides back in the wall and the planks stand straight up, flush against the wall. Imagine, next time you're at a mansion/estate/castle party, you walk into the foyer to find no stairs at all. Then the owner hits a button on a remote and stairs appear from the wall. I'm pretty sure your mind would be blown. [Aaron Tang via Architechnophilia via TreeHugger]