paris post: spirals stairs

Getting off the plane in Paris, one of the first things I noticed in the airport was the spiral staircase. From what it seems to me, the spiral staircase is something seen more in Europe than here in the states. The spiral itself is beautiful in form. From the bottom step to the top, there is a continuity of motion missing in switchback stairs. Like the Parisian roundabout, the spiral stairs solve the issue of circulation, but on a human scale.On a multistory spiral staircase, each landing diverts motion but does not pause it. Like a roundabout, cars getting out on each street does not stem the flow of the roundabout itself.

Inside a house facing a covered walkway

Charles de Gaulle airport

While many spiral staircases have beautiful sweeping curves and a dizzying central atrium, others show the versatility of the style. In the chapels and cathedrals of Paris, spiral staircases are fit into the tightest of places. When moving into the staircases, one feels the space getting squeeze down. In one moment you are in a space large enough to fit a twenty story building, then your cramped into a space where you cannot even throw up your arms without knocking into something. Instead of an atrium alluding to the size of stair, the stairs seems to suck itself into a singularity. You don't know when they end because you can't see when they end.  

Inside Sainte Chapelle

At the end of these tight staircases, the space you stumble out onto seems all the larger. After being squeezed for a disorienting amount of time, one's eyes dart straight up, sizing up the full volume of the new space. This contrast highlights the extremes of volume in the two spaces. Moving from one to the other, feelings of elevation and claustrophobia is increased by this juxtaposition.  

Stairs are always intriguing to see. They serve the need of vertical movement while at the same time become something decorative and inviting. Where as some are purely utilitarian, many are designed to go far beyond that. Like the designer chair, the designed staircase elevates something in its essence is a tool into an object of beauty and elegance.