Staircase

Sixteen months ago, I agonised over stairs. I once had a painful tumble down a steep Japanese staircase and I didn’t want that type of traditional stairs in my house. So I learned learned all about rise and run. Did the math. Built models in cardboard. Figured out how staircases fit into the volume of the house space (they take up a lot of it).

I brainstormed a dozen scenarios for placing the stairs. Different locations in the doma and living room. Different shapes and landings. But I couldn’t imagine living with a single idea that I had or those our architect offered. In the end I gave up and agreed with Teramoto-san that we’d just put in a retractable ladder in the doma and after we had lived in the house a while we’d know where the stairs should go and could install them then. Fortunately, another architect friend pointed out how impractical that idea was, then sat me down and in a couple of hours of fun collaboration at my living room table we figured out how to fit stairs in. (Thank you, Bruce!)

And yesterday, Sasaki-san built the staircase in the space Bruce figured out. Sasaki-san knew how important it was to me and he made it perfect. I wanted a staircase that was safe and easy to climb as my body aged so he calculated that into his design. The rise is 19 cm and the treads are 26 cm deep. Each board has been routed with a double channel to provide grip. It is very comfortable to climb and descend. Very American.

The wood is local cedar. Grown nearby, milled and finished by Sasaki-san by hand. It took him five days in total from drawing a full-size scale model to selecting the lumber, milling it, carving out the channels, cutting the treads and risers, and finally putting it all together with wedges, nails, screws, and glue. So much effort. And I love the result so much.

I could not have found a better carpenter. He takes this much care with every important aspect of the house.