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Buildner is delighted to announce the results of the inaugural Architect’s Stair competition, an international call for designers to reimagine one of architecture’s most symbolic elements: the stair. Far more than just a connector of levels, the stair was explored here as a sculptural and poetic medium of architectural storytelling. Participants were encouraged to leave behind technical and regulatory constraints and instead reflect on symbolism, movement, and form, imagining the stair as a metaphor, a spatial experience, or even a manifesto.
The jury received submissions from around the world, ranging from abstract explorations of rhythm and perception to bold interventions rooted in materiality and reuse. After careful deliberation, the first prize was awarded to Matthew W. Wilde from the USA for Escape: Redesigning the New York Fire Escape Stair. His project proposes a radical rethinking of New York’s iconic fire escape by transforming it into a vertical commons. With a modular system for seating, planting, and social activities, the design reimagines this infrastructural element as a new ecological and communal layer of the city.
The second prize went to Ralf Klaus Petersen from Germany for Roof Becomes Stair, a project that turns reclaimed timber beams from restoration works in Venice into a sculptural spiral stair. The design blends heritage sensitivity with architectural invention, embedding ideas of reuse and permanence in both form and process while offering visitors a subtle and beautiful spatial discovery. Third prize was awarded to Serge Saab from the USA for Plumb Line Staircase, a dramatic stair and bridge intervention set within a marble quarry. Inspired by the tools and geometries of stone extraction, the design becomes both a functional path and a monumental tribute to the quarrying process, combining narrative strength with material precision.
The Student award went to Andreas Castelletti from Switzerland for Aequilibrium, a project that reimagines the staircase as a responsive interface between body and architecture. Using flexible leather treads that subtly shift underfoot, the stair transforms climbing into a dynamic act of balance and movement, creating a dialogue between user and space.
Buildner extends its gratitude to all who participated in this first edition of the competition. Honorable mentions and shortlisted entries can be discovered on the competition website.
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1st Prize
2nd Prize
3rd Prize
Student Award
