Material-saving and reversible construction approaches are showcased in the spine-like Cadenza concrete spiral staircase, created by researchers at technology university ETH Zurich working with ROK Architects.
The Cadenza staircase is the latest contribution to the NEST building, a laboratory for experimental fabrication techniques that ETH Zurich shares with other research institutes in the Swiss city of Dübendorf.
The Cadenza staircase was installed between floors in the building's latest unit, called STEP2, and features 16 identical prefabricated concrete steps arranged in a helical shape.
Cadenza is a concrete staircase designed with material reduction and circularity in mind. Photo by Zooey Braun.
The steps were all made from the same 3D-printed mould, addressing the issue of waste associated with the single-use formwork commonly used for concrete, and are held in place by dry connections. This means that they can be disassembled and reused in another building instead of being demolished.
The amount of concrete used was also kept to the minimum required, which adds to the staircase's unusual aesthetic of slender, skeletal-like forms.
ETH Zurich Digital Building Technologies head Benjamin Dillenburger said that the staircase symbolised the advantages of digital tools in architecture and engineering, and that the solution was ready to use in individual building projects.
Each of the 16 steps is only 20 millimetres thick. Photo by Andrei Jipa
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