Welcome to How They Pulled It Off, where we take a close look at one particularly challenging aspect of a home design and get the nitty-gritty details about how it became a reality.

When a Washington, D.C. couple with four small children approached Cedar Architecture about designing a passive home, architect Deborah Buelow knew that her first job would be to orient the house towards sunlight. She quickly realized that sighting the house towards the sun might mean putting the largest windows in public view—which neither she nor the family wanted—so Buelow created an eye-catching, sun-catching workaround.

“We ended up turning the house inward and backward a bit,” Buelow explains. “That way, we could bring in the southern sun through a central stairwell.” The home has two main levels plus a basement, and the wide, open stairwell allows sunlight to reach all three floors. “We were really trying to bring light deep in,” she says.

The stairwell also unifies the home while dividing the space into its different functions—the downstairs living area, the upstairs sleeping area and so on. However, the clients were concerned that their little ones might not be safe around the stairs.

“There was a certain amount of insecurity about the handrails being insufficient,” Buelow says. “This was more of a mental issue. The handrail would keep them safe, but psychologically they felt like it might not.”

Many of us have felt nervous climbing a wide, open staircase, and Buelow knew it was her job to make everyone who spent time in this home feel as comfortable as possible. When the owners suggested working with Treenet Collective to build a net that could hang within the staircase and break a fall, Buelow was ready to start collaborating.

“I thought it was brilliant,” she said. “We had this high-end architecture, but we were also building a family home. We wanted an element that could engage the kids on a humane scale.”

Treenet Collective worked in the space for a week and a half. They took the homeowners’ idea of building a colorful net and expanded it into what became a rainbow whirl—or, as it’s now called, the “Rainbow Tornado.” The piece is sculptural, colorful, and dynamic. It also provides the necessary psychological relief to anyone climbing up or down the stairs.

How they pulled it off: A home that provides peace of mind for parents and children

The stairwell was partially under construction when the homeowners became concerned about the possibility of someone falling over the railing. Cedar Architecture solved this problem by raising the railing from a standard 36” to a full 42” high, but by that point the idea of the net had already been proposed. Buelow understood that the net could serve as both an additional layer of safety and a fun design element, so she decided to explore the possibilities.
The homeowners initially wanted Treenet Collective to create a climbable net that the children could play on. The architects considered this but ultimately decided that a functional net wouldn’t be feasible, and Treenet Collective was brought in to create an art piece instead.
The Rainbow Tornado was constructed out of a thinner version of the paracord that is used for rock climbing. The space it was designed to cover is 16’ high and 30” wide, but the structure itself only spans from the first floor to the second, making it 11’ high. The gaps between paracord elements are variable, but the anchors were placed approximately 2 ½” apart. This makes the netting fairly compact and ensures that very little can fall through.

“We are a collaborative design firm and love working with other design-oriented thinkers to come up with solutions,” Buelow explains. “The Treenet Collective approached the project in the same way. By the time they came on board, we had already decided it wasn’t possible to do a net, so they knew they were coming in to do something a little different than they normally do.”

Thinking carefully about peace of mind may also generate some unexpected benefits. The Rainbow Tornado has never had to break a human’s fall, but it has caught a toy or two that might otherwise have tumbled to the basement. Most importantly, it’s brought joy to the entire family by helping them live more comfortably in their space.

As Buelow explains, it, “A home is a safety net.”

Project Credits

Architect: Cedar Architecture
Builder: Thorsen Construction
Interior Decorator: Madigan Schuler
Net: Treenet Collective
Passive House Consultant: Peabody-Fine Architects
Passive House Rater: Chris Conway
Structural Engineer: APAC Engineering
M/E/P Engineer: MaGrann Associates
Civil: RC Fields
Geotechnical: Geotech Engineers

Related Reading:

How They Pulled It Off: A Twisty, Floating Staircase for a 14-Foot Ceiling

How They Pulled It Off: A Secret Stair Hatch That Seals Off the Living Space