Located within the entrance hall of the Amot Atrium office tower in Tel Aviv, Israel, is an amazing sculptural wooden staircase.
The staircase which was designed as part of the tower’s entrance hall was conceived by the prestigious Israeli architect Oded Halaf and implemented by Tomer Gelfand. The staircase is composed of two key elements, a skeletal metal structure and a sweeping envelope made of poplar wood. Together they create what appears to be a ‘tornado’, swirling upwards towards the viewing balcony above.
DRAWINGS COURTESY ARCHDAILY
At the bottom of the stairs, the reception desk was conceived as the starting point for the spiraling wooden sculpture, and is also made from Poplar wood. In total, about 9000 meters of Poplar wood were used in constructing the railings of the staircase (which makes up the aforementioned envelope). A CNC machine was used to cut the wood and form a series of arches which were then assembled on site.
Although the structure may seem flexible and bendable, it is in fact extremely stiff and stable, with the stairs and the tornado elements merging at the top of first floor.
A more detailed description of the design and assembly of the staircase can be found here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7vZGRRnXuc
[via contemporist]
