Top 10 Staircases of 2025: Inspiring Designs and Engineering Feats

In 2025, staircases decisively stepped out of the background to become the architectural protagonists of many landmark projects. Rather than merely solving circulation, architects and engineers are reimagining stairs as sculptural structures, social condensers, sustainability showcases and branding tools.

They must also navigate complex regulatory, structural and accessibility demands.

From Circulation to Centrepiece: The New Role of the Stair

Across continents, we’re seeing the staircase operate as a three-dimensional spine that organizes buildings and choreographs movement. Stairs now help shape user experience.

This shift reflects broader trends such as a renewed focus on public space and immersive retail. Other influences include low‑carbon construction and the blending of architecture with landscape and art.

Shanghai Grand Opera House: Staircase as Urban Topography

At the Shanghai Grand Opera House by Snøhetta, a dramatic spiralling concrete staircase acts as both structural anchor and public invitation. The stair rises from the foyer and seamlessly connects to an accessible roofscape that gently swoops down to meet the ground.

This move turns the opera house into a piece of urban topography rather than an isolated object. The stair–roof system operates as a continuous promenade, encouraging citizens to occupy the building even outside performance hours.

Public realm, circulation and landscape blend into a single gesture.

House of Seven Floors, Czech Republic: Vertical Cave Living

In the Czech Republic, Malý Chmel’s House of Seven Floors uses a triangular steel staircase to stitch together a narrow, multi-level home described as a “vertical cave.” The stair threads through a compact void, connecting seven stacked levels within a constrained footprint.

This project demonstrates how a geometrically efficient, lightweight steel stair can unlock complex section planning. It provides daylight penetration, spatial drama and a sense of continuity in otherwise tight urban housing.

Fenix Museum of Migration, Rotterdam: Helical Landmarks

MAD Architects’ transformation of Rotterdam’s Fenix Museum of Migration is dominated by two giant polished-steel helical staircases. These sculptural forms puncture the existing roof and merge into an outdoor viewing deck.

The helices serve as structural connectors, viewing platforms and urban beacons. They align with the museum’s narrative of movement and journey while activating the roof as a public destination.

Wooden Annexe, Mexico: Piercing the Roof Plane

Pedro & Juana’s Wooden Annexe in Mexico employs an enclosed pine staircase that pierces a terracotta-tiled roof and spans a courtyard. The stair reads as a stepped silhouette, visually bridging interior and exterior volumes.

Material contrast—warm pine against earthy terracotta—reinforces the stair as a crafted architectural object. Its enclosure offers controlled views and climatic buffering across the courtyard connection.

La Maison Unique, Manhattan: Brand-Coloured Steel Sculpture

Heatherwick Studio’s refresh of La Maison Unique in New York centres on a sculptural steel staircase finished in Longchamp’s signature Energy Green. More than a circulation device, the stair functions as a vertical brand statement.

Through colour, texture and sinuous geometry, the design shows how retail environments can use expressive staircase forms to guide flows and reinforce identity in dense urban contexts.

Waverly House, Sydney: Domestic Spine and Social Hub

At Waverly House in Sydney, Sam Crawford Architects reorganised a 1950s home around a spotted gum timber staircase. The stair incorporates split levels and a reading nook beneath a mesh hammock.

This approach turns the staircase into a domestic social hub, integrating storage, leisure and visual connectivity. The use of native timber highlights a sensitivity to local material culture and tactile, human-scale detailing.

France Pavilion, Expo 2025 Osaka: Narrative in Motion

The France Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka presents a winding copper-clad staircase by Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Associati. Its form references theatrical grand staircases while nodding to the Japanese legend of the red string of fate.

This stair is storytelling-driven: a processional route that fuses French cultural motifs with Japanese folklore. Copper cladding offers a living surface that will patinate over time.

Toteme Flagship, Beijing: Retail as Structured Display

Herzog & de Meuron’s intervention for Toteme’s Beijing flagship introduces a sharp, zigzagging lacquered-steel staircase. Retail shelving is integrated directly into the stair walls, blurring the line between display fixture and circulation element.

The stair serves as both merchandising apparatus and spatial sculpture. This exemplifies how structural elements can double as brand infrastructure in high-value retail real estate.

Thoravej 29, Copenhagen: Upcycling as Monumental Architecture

At Thoravej 29 in Copenhagen, Pihlmann Architects foreground sustainability by reusing waste concrete from a former factory to form monumental double- and triple-height staircases. Old concrete elements are flipped, stacked and reinterpreted.

Structural reuse and material inversion treat demolition waste as a resource. The resulting staircases carry a visible history, making circularity tangibly present in the daily circulation of the building.

Key Takeaways for Practice

1. Treat stairs as spatial frameworks, not afterthoughts.

2. Integrate brand, narrative and place.

3. Prioritize sustainability and material intelligence.

4. Balance drama with accessibility and comfort.

 
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