Contemporary Architecture

Frenzy Stair, Karaj

Sepideh Elmi Studio, Sepideh Elmi·Photos: Parham Taghioff, Persia Photography Center·Memar 154 — 25th Memar Award

Location: Mehrshahr, Karaj · Client: Bistoon Tile · Drawing & Graphic team: Salar Keshavarz, Hamed Kamalzadeh, Omid Golshan, Kosar Ghafoorinezhad, Sahar Nouri, Parham Ghaderi · Maquette: Iman Nobakht · Structure: Farshad Aghajani · Stair: Dime Company · Construction & Supervision: Aslan Fotouhi · Electrical: Davood Hajibabayi · Builder: Ali Khazaee · Photo: Parham Taghioff, Persia Photography Center · Furniture: Rost, Eggo · Wooden accessory: Ehsan Peyhani · Area: 500 m² · Total built area: 2,000 m²

Frenzy Stair: an experiment around the element of the stair in space.

In my experience, stairs have always been archives of memory — in-between spaces that are mostly overlooked and imprisoned inside a box. Unconventional spaces for kissing, embracing, hugging one’s knees in sorrow, listening to music, sketching, writing, falling, and so on.

Frenzy Stair is an arrangement that has escaped its perpetually imposed box — a theatrical space for staging everyday life. The stair, moving from the centre to the edge, positions itself at the boundary between public and private, redefining the facade — which is so often reduced to a two-dimensional surface — as a stage for dialogue with public space.

Architectural maquette of Frenzy Stair — the stair element rendered in deep red within a translucent white building volume — Study maquette — the stair, in red, escapes the confines of the building volume

The distinction between public and private life profoundly affects our behaviour, dress, and even bodily movements. In certain periods of history this distinction has been voluntary, in others imposed. Frenzy Stair is an insurrection against this imposed distinction. While all other elements sit in their ordinary positions without any structural alteration, the stair — whose job it is to connect levels — refuses to comply.

This project, in line with the studio’s research on the elements of architectural language and performative architecture, questions the possibility of thinking about space’s impact on the everyday — on seeing and being seen.

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The Stair Unleashed

Sectional perspective drawing of Frenzy Stair building — the stair element highlighted in red, zigzagging through all floors from basement parking to rooftop — Sectional perspective — the stair, highlighted in red, travels through every level of the building

Five floor plans of Frenzy Stair from basement to third floor, with the staircase path highlighted in red on each level — Floor plans — basement, ground, first, second, and third floors, with the stair path in red

Aerial view of the Frenzy Stair building rooftop showing the stair void cutting through the centre, green planters on terraces, surrounding Karaj neighbourhood — Aerial view — the stair void carves through the building mass

Looking straight down into the central stair void — a figure in red visible at the bottom, white tile surfaces, dark steel railings, greenery at the edges — Looking down into the stair void — a figure in red at the base

A dancer in white performing on the dark steel staircase, arching backwards with arms extended, white tile walls rising on either side, open sky above — The stair as stage — a performer claims the in-between space

A dancer in white leaning dynamically on the dark steel staircase, with the stair zigzagging upwards between white tile volumes, planters with greenery, blue sky above — The stair as insurrection — movement and architecture in dialogue

Courtyard view with a Japanese maple tree in a planter, the dark steel staircase ascending to the right, white tile walls, bright daylight from above — Courtyard with tree and ascending staircase

View looking down the stairwell between tall white tile walls, the dark steel stair descending towards a lower courtyard with greenery and sky beyond — Looking down through the stairwell to the courtyard below

Interior view through floor-to-ceiling glass walls to the courtyard garden — a dancer crouching among rocks and plants, a black sculptural fireplace in the foreground, dark steel staircase visible behind the glass — Interior looking out to the garden — the staircase visible through the glass, a sculptural fireplace anchoring the living space

Upper terrace with dark steel stair railings, a potted tree, and a view over the green tree-lined streets of Karaj, adjacent buildings visible — Upper terrace — the stair delivers residents to open-air views over the neighbourhood

Karaj Memar Award Apartment Buildings Winner Memar 154 25th Memar Award Residential Architecture Contemporary Architecture

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