Designed by one of our favorite young designers, Paul Cocksedge, The Living Staircase is a spiraling set of steps that shifts the conventional construction of a staircase and how one typically interacts with it. Commissioned to create a striking central feature for London-based creative firm Ampersand, Cocksedge’s coiled structure features living plants attached inside the balustrades and three floating platforms that each create a unique multifunctional area used for social and work purposes.
Not only does the space allow for extra relaxation, but the hopes are that it will spur the employees into taking advantage of their surrounding environment by simply adding fresh plants to the staircase or picking fresh mint for teas and meals. Cocksedge explains that “the living staircase is actually a combination of a staircase and room, of movement and stillness, vertical and horizontal. At every turn, there is an opportunity to stop and look, smell, read, write, talk, meet, think and rest. If a staircase is essentially about going from A to B, there is now a whole world living and breathing in the space between the two.”
