![](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/03/dzn_Apartment-for-two-Art-Collectors-1.gif)
Genetic Stair by Caliper Studio
Brooklyn office Caliper Studio have completed an apartment in New York that features a very complicated stainless steel staircase.
![](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/03/dzn_Apartment-for-two-Art-Collectors-4.jpg)
Called Genetic Stair, the fifteen-foot staircase has Corian treads supported by a structure of diagonal rods.
![](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/03/dzn_Apartment-for-two-Art-Collectors-6.jpg)
The project was designed for two art collectors and involved combining two existing apartments to form a combined living and gallery space.
![dzn_Apartment for two Art Collectors 10](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/03/dzn_Apartment-for-two-Art-Collectors-10.jpg)
Materials include stainless steel, translucent Corian, blackened steel and walnut wood.
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Mobile translucent partitions can be positioned within the apartment to divide it further.
![](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/03/dzn_Apartment-for-two-Art-Collectors-16.jpg)
Photographs are by Ty Cole.
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The text below is from Caliper Studio:
This project is Caliper Studio’s newly completed home for two art collectors on New York’s Upper West Side.
![](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/03/dzn_Apartment-for-two-Art-Collectors-19.jpg)
Located in the top two floors of a Mckim Mead and White building, the design merges two apartments to create a spacious domestic art gallery where home and art are intertwined.
![](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/03/dzn_Apartment-for-two-Art-Collectors-3.jpg)
The spaces are strung in an open sequence around a library core, from the entrance to the kitchen with a free standing stair and living spaces in between.
![](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/03/dzn_Apartment-for-two-Art-Collectors-5.jpg)
Continuous long walls enclose the space to display works from the owners' collection: Tomma Abts, Lawrence Weiner, Franz Ackermann and more.
![](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/03/dzn_Apartment-for-two-Art-Collectors-7.jpg)
Full-height, translucent moveable partitions can be positioned to provide private enclosures when needed without reducing the overall scale of the space.
![](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/03/dzn_Apartment-for-two-Art-Collectors-9.jpg)
The stair codenamed “Genetic Stair” was conceived as a jewel in the apartment. It is placed just to the side of the entrance and is inserted in a newly formed floor opening.
![](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/03/dzn_Apartment-for-two-Art-Collectors-12.jpg)
Above, to one side of the opening, a full height glass wall brushes light deep into the space below.
![](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/03/dzn_Apartment-for-two-Art-Collectors-20.jpg)
Supported only at the top and bottom, the stair turns two hundred seventy degrees and rises fifteen feet.
![](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/03/dzn_Apartment-for-two-Art-Collectors-21.jpg)
The supporting structure is a modified space frame, in which the distribution of the diagonal rod members was determined using custom designed computational algorithms to arrive at a structurally sound solution.
![](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/03/DWG_STAIR_SECTION_PERSPECTI.gif)
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The stair was fabricated by our metal fabrication shop. The complete computer model was used to seamlessly transition to the shop floor.
![](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/03/dzn_Apartment-for-two-Art-Collectors-15.gif)
It provided the precise 3D files to laser cut the holes in the stainless tubes and enabled the development of sophisticated jigs/templates to layout the various assemblies.
![](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/03/dzn_Apartment-for-two-Art-Collectors-.gif)
A material palette of stainless steel, translucent white Corian, blackened steel and walnut was selected and forms a quiet but sharp backdrop for the art.
![](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/03/dzn_Apartment-for-two-Art-Collectors-26.gif)
Precisely crafted details are expressed most noticeably in the stair’s diagonal connections, the door frames and countertops.
![](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/03/dzn_Apartment-for-two-Art-Collectors-25.gif)
Each is transformed into an opportunity to express the material’s capabilities and the beauty of carefully crafted detail assemblies.