The Grand Staircase
When you walk into the new Signature you’re going to be truly blown away by the entrance. You enter the building through the exterior public plaza that will have two large fountains as well as many trees and benches. Most of the first floor entryway and second floor lobby are glass walls looking out over the Village at Shirlington. You walk in through two sets of glass double doors. The foyer between the doors is lit with almost 50 marquee-style light bulbs, like you often see surrounding movie theater signs. After passing through the second set of doors into the box office area you see the grand staircase curve upwards in front of you. There’s an eight-step section followed by a landing, after which the staircase curves up to meet the second floor. The staircase is custom made of concrete treads with a clear finish on top and all the railings are steel. Each step has LED lighting built into the tread so it can be lit up with any color.
The rest of the area only adds to the awe factor of the staircase. The walls surrounding the stairwell climb four-stories above your head and are a combination of exposed concrete sanded down to a finish and acoustical padding. There are large banks of lights at the bottom of each wall so they can be washed with color. There are also several lights located under the staircase that will shoot up through the stairs.
Like the cherry on top of a good sundae, the grand staircase has one final item topping it all off — the chandelier. While Sam, Eric and I were looking for lobby furniture at Apartment Zero in downtown DC, we found these things called Bocci Lights. I saw them and said to our architect Brian, “How cool would it be to have a bunch of those hung at all different levels in the entry?” Eventually that’s what we ended up with and it’s going to be spectacular (if I do say so myself!). The Bocci Light is a five-inch round glass ball with a little light inside. Brian has designed a fixture that contains 60 of these lights hanging at varying heights. They’ll hang from an eight-foot wide metal oval or circle — we’re still debating the exact shape. The picture gives you an idea of what the finished chandelier will look like — the photo is of a Bocci installation that was done in Canada.
Did I mention yet that this new building is going to be impressive?
—Chris
The rest of the area only adds to the awe factor of the staircase. The walls surrounding the stairwell climb four-stories above your head and are a combination of exposed concrete sanded down to a finish and acoustical padding. There are large banks of lights at the bottom of each wall so they can be washed with color. There are also several lights located under the staircase that will shoot up through the stairs.
Like the cherry on top of a good sundae, the grand staircase has one final item topping it all off — the chandelier. While Sam, Eric and I were looking for lobby furniture at Apartment Zero in downtown DC, we found these things called Bocci Lights. I saw them and said to our architect Brian, “How cool would it be to have a bunch of those hung at all different levels in the entry?” Eventually that’s what we ended up with and it’s going to be spectacular (if I do say so myself!). The Bocci Light is a five-inch round glass ball with a little light inside. Brian has designed a fixture that contains 60 of these lights hanging at varying heights. They’ll hang from an eight-foot wide metal oval or circle — we’re still debating the exact shape. The picture gives you an idea of what the finished chandelier will look like — the photo is of a Bocci installation that was done in Canada.Did I mention yet that this new building is going to be impressive?
—Chris
posted by Akins at
12:59 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home