Hollins House

A curved staircase demands precision that a straight staircase simply doesn't. Every tread follows a different radius, the glass panels must bend to match the geometry exactly, and the handrail has to flow from bottom to top without a single join or flat section.

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The clients at Hollins House wanted something that felt sculptural rather than functional, warm rather than industrial. The curved steel stringers had to be structural enough to carry the load, visible enough to be part of the design, and refined enough not to compete with the walnut and glass.

We fabricated twin curved steel stringers to carry the full length of the flight, powder-coated in matte black and shaped to follow the staircase geometry precisely. Solid American black walnut treads sit cleanly on the stringers with no visible fixings, and curved glass panels are bolted directly to the steel frame, following the curve of the staircase from bottom landing to top. The walnut handrail was shaped and bent by hand to flow continuously along the full length of the flight, complementing the rich grain of the treads throughout. The pendant lighting cluster, dropping through the open void beside the staircase, was specified alongside the build to ensure the proportions worked as a complete composition.