Throughout the course of this assignment, the design of both the Villa Mairea staircase and the Arts Club Chicago staircase will be critically evaluated. The materials that were used to make these two staircases will be compared and contrasted and their historical context will be explored. The appropriateness of the materials for their application will be examined, with specific attention being paid to sustainability, assembly, process and building construction principles. The Villa Mairea staircase was constructed as part of a residential home in 1939. The couple that the house was built for were art lovers, and gave Alto permission to experiment with the design of their home as much as they liked (Mairea Foundation, n.d. b). It was created at a time when modernism was extremely popular in Europe, which was an ideology that centred on logic of construction and orthodox formalism. However, Alto rejected the notion in favour of creating a warm, liveable environment instead (Poole, 2014). The house is now famous internationally, particularly amongst academics in the field of architecture (Alvar Aalto Museum, 2009). The Arts Club Chicago staircase was part of an interior space that was designed by Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe in 1951. The staircase was moved to the new building for the Arts Club …show more content…
This was an appropriate material to use, given its durability. It ensured that the staircase lasted over half a century since it was erected. However, the production of steel causes damage to the environment due to the emissions that are given off when it is created (Evans, Evans & Strezov, 2013). This means that although the staircaseis likely to last a long time, it does not rank highly in terms of sustainability. It is also important to note that the staircase was constructed at a time when the steel industry was experiencing a great boom, at was therefore widely