Histoires de Bruag

Beyond their utilitarian function, windows and doors set up an emotional expectation on the part of visitors as to what they'll encounter within a building, while, at the same time, negotiating the relation that users inside have with the exterior world. Little wonder that so many architects are engaged in a perennial experimentation with these fundamental structural elements.

Staircases are overdetermined things. A highly functional element in the internal circulation of a building, they are also laden with cultural and psychological symbolism. We may live in the age of the lift and escalator, but this hasn’t stopped architects using the staircase as a means of adding value to spaces, be it through their aesthetic or engineering virtuosity. It’s not the destination that counts but the getting there.