The Stair as Ontological Threshold: Architecture's Poetics of Movement

In a thought-provoking essay published in The Architect's Newspaper, Adam Rolston, the senior founding partner of INC Architecture & Design, posits that stairs represent the ultimate architectural thresholds, elevating transitions into a ritualistic experience. He draws inspiration from Georg Simmel's notion of the bridge, emphasizing that stairs demand our entire physical presence, thereby decelerating our journey from departure to arrival. Serving as narrative elements, materials such as textured stone and warm wood evoke sensation and memory. Rolston references Maurice Merleau-Ponty's ideas on the body as our primary means of interacting with the world, asserting that well-crafted stairs elicit emotional responses. He perceives design as a communal endeavor and beauty as a fundamental human right, citing projects like 1 Hotel Brooklyn and a stair in a Kyoto townhouse.