Like the pavilion holding the public spaces, the structure containing the bedrooms is clad in glass on the interior sides facing the courtyard, allowing a constant connection to the outside. Rodriguez (with dog Lupe) designed the steel stairs leading from the mezzanine-level home office to the master bedroom below. The stairs were fabricated by Austin-based Steel House MFG.

The couple's daughter reads in the cozy nook just inside the front door painted in a vibrant blue from Benjamin Moore. Of the storage area below, Fredrik says, "In Sweden, there's always a place to sit and take off your shoes. This is a version of that."

Built-in shelving under the stairs to the mezzanine level provides the resident with extra storage.

Sarti is only too happy to demonstrate one of his favorite inventions: a mobile kitchen-supply box/cocktail station/breakfast bar with casters that hides beneath the stairs.

Hynam built additional storage along one angled wall of the bedroom loft and beneath the skylight.

Photo caption: The wall beneath the stairs of this Beverly Hills home holds hidden storage, including an Enomatic wine dispenser and Sub-Zero refrigerated drawers.

One of the greatest design challenges, according to Franz and Paré-Mayer, was reimagining the dark, unfinished garage space in a way that would “establish [it] as primary, instead of an afterthought to the original floor above.” This was achieved by layering open, linked spaces on the ground floor and sticking to a few carefully selected materials for cohesion and fluidity. There are hardly any hallways in the home; every space serves a function. Polished concrete floors continue throughout the new living level, and a bent metal dining chair with a reclaimed Douglas fir backrest made by Scholz sits in front of an open white oak staircase.

Loft stair with hidden pull-out storage

Photo caption: The custom cabinetry is made with bleached rift-cut white oak and finished with mirror pulls. Created by David Amble Cabinetry, the cabinets were designed to be put to serious use—one holds extra folding dining chairs while another hides a Murphy bed.

Interior Staircase

The owners shared Turnbull Griffin Haesloop’s dedication to green design, and agreed to modifications—like solar panels and passive heating and cooling elements—to earn the property LEED Platinum certification. The living room’s oversized fan is by Big Ass Fans. Ultra-Tec created the cable system on the stairs and guardrail.

Raising the bed above floor level, architect Kyu Sung Woo converted this tiny studio into an open and comfortable home for Wonbo Woo. Photos by: Adam Friedberg

Steps with storage that lead up to the balcony.

Of the seven steps in Michael Pozner’s not-quite-500-square-foot aerie in Greenwich Village, five contain drawers. His small set of table and chairs is from CB2.

Futuristic floating stairs lead to the loft’s mezzanine. Throughout the lower level, natural stone was chosen for the flooring, laid at an irregular angle to add visual interest.

“Using a very simple white oak material in repetition added a lot of texture without adding busyness,” says Solk.

Concrete stairs leading up to a sleeping loft are illuminated with wall sconces.

The ground floor’s adjoining staircase, as well as the kitchen cabinets and tables, can be adjusted depending the homeowner's preferences. “The design of the house is an attempt to respond to [French novelist] Georges Perec’s question, ‘We should learn to live more on staircases. But how?’” Simpson says.

“We took away a very thick, heavy staircase that led to the loft, and designed one that had a much lighter look,” Wåhlin says. “The new one, made of steel, looks simple and indeed light—but is in fact super heavy and was a real challenge to construct.”

At the top of the stairwell, a sitting area is outfitted with a vintage Eames lounge, a large Jack Goldstein painting, and a 1970s light fixture found by Marcovitz in Paris.

The house’s stacked floors progress vertically from the communal basement, through the mixed-use mezzanine, to the private bedroom. Its staircase responds to these functions. Perforated folded steel steps between the ground level and mezzanine allow for greater access to sunlight. Between the mezzanine and upper level, solid folded steel stairs and partitions serve as the bedroom’s acoustic barrier.

The tin panels lining the stairs are original to the house.

As part of the built-in cabinetry beneath the stairs, Wilson included a pull-out bed that can be used by overnight guests.

Built-in cabinetry beneath the staircase provides extra storage space for the 1,024-square-foot home.

White-painted storage cabinets are built-in to the wall beneath the staircase.

Bright yellow and purple paints were used to add some vibrancy to the daughter’s desk area, one of the ways the architects tried to honor the personality of each inhabitant's space.

The stairs up to the loft were a happy mistake, the result of an errant delivery of the wrong type of plywood. The improvised staircase was one of many on-the-fly creations that made this such an exciting project, according to Langston-Jones.

Pozner credits Borowski with the idea to use a roller shade, purchased at the Shade Store, to close off the sleeping loft. The simple intervention, neither sound- nor lightproof, is sufficient to demarcate one “room” from another.

New ash wood “stairage” (stairs with built-in storage)

“Try to group uses and find solutions that solve multiple problems,” Borowski counsels. As an example, Pozner cites the idea of having the loft stairs double as clothing drawers. Though he eschewed a handrail, preferring a cleaner look, Pozner says that the slipperiness of the stairs “remains a work in progress. We had grooves, but they hurt my feet.” The pair are now looking into heavy-duty felt treads.

A central wood-burning fireplace efficiently heats the whole home, minimizing the need for supplemental in-floor heating incorporated in the concrete floors. Natural cross-ventilation is achieved through the use of CO2 directed grills at the north and south of the home, an added green feature that further reduces the ecological footprint.

Throughout the kitchen and dining spaces, the ceiling is painted in Dulux Wellbeing green. This continues along the underside of the staircase to help accentuate its form. The cupboards beneath the stair are painted in a deep blue, with circular red finger pulls. The couple’s son, Mo, uses the small cupboard as a hiding spot. “You spend so much time thinking about people and how people will use the space,” says architect Catrina Stewart. “It’s amazing to walk in and often be surprised at how pieces are evolving as the kids grow up.”

Rising to a catwalk above, a huge glass-and-steel central stair envisioned by architect Filippo Caprioglio spans four floors of the Chiavellis’ newly expanded house.

Photo caption: In traditional Japanese houses, clever carpenters often combined staircases with storage to maximize living space and storage.

Cabinets beneath the stairs provide additional storage for the third bedroom.