Gizmodo Australia » stairs

These Piano Stairs Will Motivate Even The Laziest Of You

Rosa Golijan — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 05:30:00 +0000

I’m a stair-taker because elevators and escalators give me nightmares, but for all those lazy folks who don’t have fear motivating them to take the steps, there are these piano stairs. How could you not want musical accompaniment like that?

OK, so maybe you don’t want to hear a playful tune as you skip up and down steps. It’s still a fun idea and apparently showed a huge increase in individuals taking the stairs. [YouTube via Marco G.]

Alternating Tread Stair Looks Painful If You Slip

Jason Chen — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:20:00 +0000

Not only can you possibly slip off the side and cut a gash in your face on these crazy tread stairs, you could slip and fall crotch first onto the middle bar.

Very useful for keeping fatties off the 2nd floor, as well as making sure your children NEVER RUN UP THE STAIRS. That is, if you’re still viable to have children after all those accidents. [Costel21d via Treehugger]

Staircase Slide Combo Built By The Coolest Parents Ever

Sean Fallon — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:20:00 +0000

At the request of his children, London architect Alex Michaelis installed a slide next to the staircase in their new eco-friendly dream home.

Here we see on of his children throwing caution to the wind and diving head first down the slide. But it’s not just the kids having fun:

“We tend to have a lot of the kids’ friends around-they’re here perhaps more than at some of the other parents’ homes,” Michaelis says, adding that even grown-ups can’t resist skipping the stairs. “We’ve been known after a big dinner party to use the slide.”

No kidding—this is better than an elevator any day. Although, Michaelis’ setup doesn’t hold up to Rod Miller’s spiral stair slide with fibre optic lighting. [Cookie Mag via Bloesem Kids via Neatorama]

Door in the Floor Leads to Amazing Spiral Wine Dungeon

Adam Frucci — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:10:00 +0000

Rich wine nerds have a wine cellar. Very, very rich wine nerds install a door in their kitchen floor leading to a spiral staircase surrounded by wine, which is the coolest wine cellar ever.

In addition to being certifiably badass, a spiral wine cellar uses the ground to keep bottles at an ideal temperature without needing any fancy electronics. It saves space and, sure, why not, let’s call it cost effective.

The Spiral Cellars come in sizes that can hold between 1000 and 1600 bottles, which is about 997 to 1597 more bottles than I usually have on hand. But if I had a trap door in my floor leading to a spiral cellar? I’d have closer to 15 bottles. Believe it!

Oh, and these start at $US30,000, which is a lot of wine money, so you’d better have some serious scratch if you want to get on board. [Spiral Cellars and The Kitchn via Notcot.org]

Rogue Escalator Takes Out 20 People At a Tokyo Convention Centre

Sean Fallon — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:00:00 +0000

Beware the next time your ride an escalator at the mall folks. It appears that they are beginning to stage an organised revolt against their passengers. First an escalator chewed up this poor bastard, then one dished out some payback after some tool disrespected it with a joyride. But that was just a warm up because the escalators appear to be getting bolder. Most recently, a rogue escalator took out 20 passengers in a Tokyo convention centre when it inexplicably started going in reverse.

The most serious of the 20 or so injuries reported seems to be a broken leg, but it is clear to me that this escalator was staging a revolt because it was being overloaded by the crush of people. My advice is…stay alert. It is only a matter of time before they start snagging shoelaces with the intent to kill–and once they have a taste for blood there is no turning back. [USA Today]

StairSteady Helps the Elderly Climb Stairs on Shaky Legs

Adam Frucci — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:10:00 +0000

Ruth Amos, an 18-year-old student from the UK, has come up with a simple and ingenious device for helping the elderly hobble their way up stairs with as little chance of hip-breakage as possible. Dubbed the StairSteady, it’s essentially a bar that one can hold onto as they walk up the stairs, moving up or down with them while they move and keeping them steady. It’s a bit pricey at US$642 due to the absolutely worthless US dollar, but that’s a lot cheaper than a hip replacement. Kudos, Ruth. [BBC via Popgadget]

Frack-Me Shoes Come With a Stair Counter, but No Stabilisers

Addy Dugdale — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:50:00 +0000

Costume National, purveyors of sleek, minimal-yet-glam clothes for people like me, has the perfect argument for not mixing clothes and technology, if you get my drift. A pair of the fuckiest fuck-me booties does not need to come with a stair counter screwed onto the ankle—a smaller (obviously) version of those machines that, I believe, exist in the gym. You do not do stairs in these shoes. You do your man in these shoes—maybe on the stairs, but believe me, no climbing is involved. They’ll be out in September. [Fashion and Runway and WWD]

Stairs Bookcase Actually Makes Me Want to Move to London

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:20:52 +0000

Here’s a great idea for anyone who loves books and doesn’t have enough apartment space or a Kindle: a “secret staircase” made of English oak, lined with books left, right and center, leading to a loft bedroom in a Victorian 1898 apartments block.

The 70m2 apartment was remodeled by London-based Levitate Architects, who created “a new bedroom level and increasing the floor area of the flat by approximately one third.” The staircase is both the way to access the bedroom and a perfect place to store books, movies or CDs. “With a skylight above lighting the staircase, it becomes the perfect place to stop and browse a tome,” says Levitate’s Tim Sloan, who also pointed out the unique structure of each step, allowing for anyone to comfortably sit down while picking a book. [Apartment Therapy via Boing Boing]