How to build stairs without support?
The staircase called The Miles Stair is a spiral coil of white concrete, with a diameter of 3.7 meters, that winds up to a height of five floors in the cultural center "Somerset House" in London. Staircases usually rely on the support of the surrounding walls, but Grem Miles rests on a cylindrical lattice made of lightweight stainless steel located in its center. The engineers were able to build this improbable structure thanks to the fact that the stairs are made of modern concrete, called UHPC, which is stronger, lighter and more stable than normal concrete.
This concrete, mixed with steel and nylon fibers, is almost as strong as cast iron. It was originally developed to fill gaps in large concrete structures, such as bridges, but over the past five years engineers have increasingly started using it to build entire structures. This concrete does not shrink over time, as normal concrete does, so "what you pour is what you get," says Matthew Wells, project representative at the London-based Techniker company that built the staircase.
Award nomination
Graeme Miles was nominated for the Institute of Structural Engineering award, which is given to engineering projects with a particularly attractive and economical design. And although he didn't win, Wells believes that the staircase has already proven itself: the Somerset House also has an elevator, but almost no one uses it.
More of the topic in Hayadan:
- In five years we won't be throwing bags in the garbage and we'll be riding a spiral escalator (2012)
- Construction without management inspired by termites
The article was published with the permission of Scientific American Israel
One response
To be honest, I didn't really understand how they differ from spiral staircases that I have seen quite a few times in shopping malls and other public buildings, I don't remember that they are supported by walls, on the contrary, they are usually located in the center of the hall.