Stairs

A ribbon-like spiral staircase leads from the open-plan living area to the second level, where the bedrooms are located.

The ground-floor bedrooms branch off the entry hall and the steel-and-concrete spiral stair—a focal point and labor of love.

Botta’s best bit, though, is the circular staircase at the heart of his rounded building around which the museum’s collection of centuries-old Korean artifacts is displayed. The white walls and cutaways give the sense of winding further and further back in time as you progress through the exhibitions.

“The intimate courtyard, with a concrete floor and plants, is an homage to many charming places in Southern California, where my wife and I lived for four years before getting married," says Priatman.

A sculptural white steel spiral staircase with wooden treads connects the two levels.

The trip from garage to first floor is through a wood-clad spiral staircase that resembles a giant slatted barrel.

The handrail continues onto the mezzanine as a slanted balustrade that follows the upper level’s triangulated plan. "It looks like a complicated system, but on closer look, most of the surfaces are planar," says Amanda. "We did this to ensure that the project could be constructed as accurately as possible."

“The original stairs were not lined up vertically, which took up much of the internal space,” Dubbeldam explains. The architect replaced them with black walnut wood risers that seem to float from the basement to the third floor, allowing light to spill into the house’s once-dark interior.

White-oak stairs connect the first-floor living spaces with the upstairs sleeping areas.

Interior stairs in the afternoon