DESIGNWORKS 2019

Little

Charlotte, NC

Little Diversified Architectural Consulting

Jim Thompson (Design Principal),Ashley Hall (Sr. Interior Designer),Dan Wray (Structural Engineer),Brittany Valle (Project Manager),Bryan Starr (Structural Engineer),Matt Schronce (Lighting Design),Melissa Taylor (Lighting Design),Scott Schauffele (Steel Fabrication)

Rooted in a vibrant urban community, Little’s catalytic and cultural workscape required a unique and vibrant feature – to make a visual statement representative of the firm’s diversity of expertise in design, architecture and engineering.

This feature becomes a stair conceived around the notion of the best tangible and intangible qualities of the urban landscape: vibrancy, diversity, friction, rawness, complexity and perhaps most of all, connectivity. The stair premise favors the unexpected encounter, becoming a catalyst that brings people, possibilities and ideas together. It’s the Center of Gravity for ideas, culture, experience, story, work, and interaction.

Connecting three floors, the stair was built first by cutting and removing 40,000 lbs. of concrete and adding back 20,000 lbs. of structural steel and stone in the form of a floating/suspended stair.

From the ceiling, the stair hangs from a structural mast. A winding ribbon of structural steel that creates a finished backbone rendered in white is a stark contrast to the rawness of the steel that it threads together.

As the steel is a significant design element, every detail was considered and referential to the art of building. The hand of the craftsperson was important, and the materials used critical in the execution of being of this city – the more ‘raw’ the better. Bolted connections, welds, bends and cuts became the narrative to the inherent beauty of material, in how they look, feel, smell, and sound. The result is impressive in being put together in sensible and understandable, yet unexpected ways.