Simple is Hard

 

Steve Jobs was often quoted as saying “simple is hard.”  The ipod offers an excellent illustration of this notion:  a small, portable device with only 5 buttons (all controllable with your thumb) that lets you navigate and access thousands of songs and albums.  In fact, I would assert that the ipod’s simplicity was a key driving force behind its popularity.  I would also bet that arriving at the final design of the ipod was anything but simple…it likely took hundreds of crazy-smart software engineers and thousands of man hours to arrive at the product that now provides so many of us with the soundtracks for our lives.

House in Yatsugatake / Kidosaki Architects Studio

Contemporary architecture shares many virtues with the ipod…it is typically uncluttered and “simple” in presentation.  The considerations and planning necessary to achieve a contemporary look, however, is most often highly complex and fraught with a multitude of design considerations—the vast majority of which are never evident to the end user.  This notion has become increasingly obvious as I have tried to design and build my own “contemporary refuge” (aka “mancave”).  Perhaps no element of my build has illustrated this more than the mono-stringer staircase upon which I am currently working.

Designing the railing for my stairs, for example, has proven exceedingly challenging to say the least.  My design had to match the loft's railing but unlike the loft, fascia mounting each newel post with large brackets to the side of the staircase wasn't an option.  Moreover, simply fabricating each post proved considerably more challenging than the process of fabricating the posts for the loft's railing.  

To start, I first had to figure out how long each post needed to be.  Code stipulates that a stairway's handrail must measure 36" from the leading edge of the tread.  My design, however, called for each post to be centered on each tread (see below):

Thus, to comply with code, each post had to be longer than 36" because as you move the post back from the leading edge of the tread, the distance between the tread and top rail increases.  I'll spare you the dissertation of how I determined this dimension, but let's just say I had to consult a few people smarter than myself to be sure I figured it out correctly.

With the height of each post determined, I then had to cut the top of each post at the same angle as the stairs to ensure the top rail would sit flush atop each post.

 

This was accomplished using Jim's articulating band saw:

Jim has all the best tools

With my posts cut to length and tops beveled to accommodate the top rail, the next trick was to figure out how to drill the holes for my cables.  Unlike the through-and-through holes drilled into the newel posts surrounding the loft, the holes for the staircase's newel posts would have to be drilled at an angle that corresponded to the stair case's angle of ascent.  Unfortunately, drilling metal at an angle is far from a straight forward proposition...in fact, it requires very big and very expensive equipment to accomplish.  With a strong desire to keep my railing's fabrication entirely "in-house," I reasoned the next best option would be to offset my holes from one side of the post to another in a way that would allow my cables to make a straight linear run down the steps.  Below are schematics of this dilemma and solution.

If holes are drilled through-and-through like the loft's posts, each cable's linear course becomes disrupted as it passes through each post...and that's not sexy.

On the flip side, if you use the staircase's angle of ascent (which in my case is 30.7 degrees), you can calculate how much to offset the holes.  Using a protractor, we calculated this offset and drilled our holes accordingly.

Offsetting holes

Offsetting the holes thus allows each cable to pass through the intermediate posts without disruption:

Offset holes with straight cable runs...now that's sexy

The last major design consideration was figuring out a method for attaching each newel posts to the staircase...a rather tricky proposition given the staircase's mono-stringer design.

Hmmm....where to attach the newel posts?  No outside stringer to tie into.  See what I mean...simple is complex.

Obviously, using the same brackets I designed to affix each newel post around the loft's perimeter wasn't an option...there simply isn't anything to which the bracket could be bolted.  I somehow needed to figure out a way to connect each newel post to the steel portion of the staircase to ensure the railing would be rigid enough to perform its function (all without cluttering up the design and overall aesthetic). To accomplish all these things, I needed a solution that was both "low profile" and robust/strong....after all, a big, clunky steel bar connecting my newel post to the staircase's spine would sort of defeat all the work I had done up to this point.  With these considerations in mind, I settled on the following concept:

Here is a rough schematic as viewed from the side of the staircase

This alternative view is what you would see if you were standing on the staircase itself and looking between the steps (Cut me some slack, I know this schematic is pretty screwy looking.  I can't draw to save my life)

As you can see from the schematic above, each newel post is recessed (aka "notched") partially into each tread...I felt this detail gave the railing a more custom, integrated appearance and would also provide some added stability to each newel post.  Achieving the above concept was a bit of a process. Before committing to this design, I did a "dry fit" mock up using a spare tread I had and a wooden clamp to hold things in place:

Dry fit mock up (the white "S" is short for "support bar")

View from underside (support bar is also mild steel)

 The next step will just be to do it for real!