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Staircases are one of the most intriguing of architectural elements as well as engineering miracles. This guide showcases 50 brilliant staircase designs by today's leading architects, in locations ranging from a private home in Finland to a Chicago apartment building.
"This [book] is the first one that I can recall that deals exclusively with this single subject, and does so with such thoroughness. Its 10 chapters cover all the essentials, ...many color photos and drawings...explain and expand on the text. It offers great value for the price."--"Wood Design & Building."
Containing walks and detailed maps from throughout the city, Secret Stairs highlights the charms and quirks of a unique feature of the Los Angeles landscape, and chronicles the geographical, architectural, and historical aspects of the city’s staircases, as well as of the neighborhoods in which the steps are located. From strolling through the classic La Loma neighborhood in Pasadena to walking the Sunset Junction Loop in Silver Lake, to taking the Beachwood Canyon hike through “Hollywoodland” to enjoying the magnificent ocean views from the Castellammare district in Pacific Palisades, Secret Stairs takes you on a tour of the staircases all across the City of Angels. The circular walks, rated for duration and difficulty, deliver tales of historic homes and their fascinating inhabitants, bits of unusual local trivia, and stories of the neighborhoods surrounding the stairs. That’s where William Faulkner was living when he wrote the screenplay for To Have and Have Not; that house was designed by Neutra; over there is a Schindler; that’s where Woody Guthrie lived, where Anais Nin died, and where Thelma Todd was murdered . . . Despite the fact that one of these staircases starred in an Oscar-winning short film—Laurel and Hardy’s The Music Box, from 1932—these civic treasures have been virtually unknown to most of the city’s residents and visitors. Now, Secret Stairs puts these hidden stairways back on the map, while introducing urban hikers to exciting new “trails” all around the city of Los Angeles.
This volume showcases the astonishing diversity of staircases over the centuries, from the stepped pyramids of the Maya to the exquisitely proportioned stairs of the Renaissance, to the elaborate balustraded confections of the Baroque period, to the computer-aided designs of today. A dazzling range of photographs, many specially taken for this book, illustrates chronologically ordered essays. Among the scores of featured staircases are Michelangelo's double stair at the Palazzo dei Senatori on the Capitoline Hill in Rome; the double-spiral stair at Château de Chambord in the Loire Valley; the entrance stair in the Winter Palace (now the Hermitage) in St Petersburg; the radical spiral ramp of Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum; and the exterior stair at the Pompidou Centre in Paris. The authors also explore the magical and symbolic meanings of the staircase. Powerful emblems of technological and artistic achievement, these staircases are inherently dynamic, as is every page of this illustrated book.
The moving story of her own search for God by the highly-acclaimed author of the bestselling A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam; The Battle for God: A History of Fundamentalism; and Islam: A Short History. In 1969, after seven years as a Roman Catholic nun -- hoping, but ultimately failing, to find God -- Armstrong left her convent. She knew almost nothing of the changed world she was entering, and she was tormented by panic attacks and inexplicable seizures. Her struggle against despair was fueled by a string of discouragements -- failed spirituality, doctorate and jobs, fruitless dealings with psychiatrists -- but finally, in 1976, she was diagnosed with epilepsy and given proper treatment. She then began the writing career that would become her true calling, and as she focused on the sacred texts of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, her own true inner story began to emerge. She would come to experience brief moments of transcendence through her work -- the profound fulfillment that she had not found in the long hours of prayer as a young nun. Powerfully engaging, often heart-breaking, but lit with bursts of humour, The Spiral Staircase is an extraordinary history of self.
Portland has 196 public staircases, an irresistible asset to this pedestrian-friendly city. In The Portland Stairs Book, Portland's walking guru Laura Foster has gathered the best and most interesting in a handy pocket-sized guide. From Mount Tabor's epic 282 steps to the glass cupola atop 115 steps in Pioneer Courthouse, The Portland Stairs Book features details on twenty outdoor stairs that have amazing stories and something unique to offer an urban explorer. The stairs include the Willamette River Bridge Stairs, The Westover Terraces Steps, and Rocky Butte's Grand Staircase. The book also features indoor stairs that are perfect for a rainy Portland day and five Stair Trails that lead readers on urban treks that contain hundreds of steps in five different areas of town.
The first theoretical, historical, and scientific analysis of one of the most basic and universal building elements: the stair.
The staircase dates back to the very beginning of architectural history. Virtually every significant building from the ziggurats of ancient Mesopotamia to the present day, has not only contained one or more staircases, but has celebrated them. For such an apparently simple part of a building they have been made in a bewildering variety of forms and from a wide range of materials. Every age has sought to out-perform the previous to produce ever more spectacular and gravity-defying designs. 'Staircases: History, Repair and Conservation' is the first major reference volume devoted entirely to the understanding of staircases and the issues surrounding their repair and conservation. Each chapter has been especially written by experts in their respective fields. The book is essential reading for professionals and anyone with an interest in staircases. It deals with the history; dating; archaeology; surveying and recording; engineering; curating; repair and conservation of the staircase in a single volume. No other book offers such a wide range of detail. The book is divided into three parts: Part 1 covers the history, development, identification and dating of staircases, providing detailed drawings and photographs and an introduction to the scientific techniques available to enable the accurate dating of staircases. Part 2 covers the design, engineering and maintenance of the staircase, giving a clear guide to the latest research into the design of safe staircases and their structural stability. Part 3 focuses on the materials commonly used to make stairs, detailing the appropriate techniques for their conservation and repair. The result is a comprehensive study encompassing considerable and far reaching research which aims to inform our understanding and advance the scholarship of the subject for years to come.
In recent years both free-standing and geometric staircases have become quite popular. Many variations exist, such as spiral, helical, and elliptical staircases, and combinations of these. A number of researchers have come forward with different concepts in the fields of analytical and numerical design and of experimental methods and assessments. The aim of this book is to cover all these methods and to present them with greater simplicity to practising engineers. Staircases is divided into five chapters: Specifications and basic data on staircases; Structural analysis of staircases – Classical methods; Structural analysis of staircases – Modern methods; Staircases and their analysis – A comparative study; Design analysis and structural detailing. Charts and graphs are included and numerous design examples are given of freestanding and other geometric staircases and of their elements and components. These examples are related to the case studies which were based on staircases that have already been constructed. All examples are checked using various Eurocodes. The book includes bibliographical references and is supported by two appendices, which will be of particular interest to those practising engineers who wish to make a comparative study of the different practices and code requirements used by various countries; detailed drawings are included from the USA, Britain, Europe and Asia. Staircases will serve as a useful text for teachers preparing design syllabi for undergraduate and post graduate courses. Each major section contains a full explanation which allows the book to be used by students and practising engineers, particularly those facing the formidable task of having to design/ detail complicated staircases with unusual boundary conditions. Contractors will also find this book useful in the preparation of construction drawings and manufacturers will be interested in the guidance given.
Following the success of his latest novel, Travis Glasgow and his wife Jodie buy their first house in the seemingly idyllic western Maryland town of Westlake. At first, everything is picture perfect—from the beautiful lake behind the house to the rebirth of the friendship between Travis and his brother, Adam, who lives nearby. Travis also begins to overcome the darkness of his childhood and the guilt he’s harbored since his younger brother’s death—a tragic drowning veiled in mystery that has plagued Travis since he was 13. Soon, though, the new house begins to lose its allure. Strange noises wake Travis at night, and his dreams are plagued by ghosts. Barely glimpsed shapes flit through the darkened hallways, but strangest of all is the bizarre set of wooden stairs that rises cryptically out of the lake behind the house. Travis becomes drawn to the structure, but the more he investigates, the more he uncovers the house’s violent and tragic past, and the more he learns that some secrets cannot be buried forever.