This contemporary spiral staircase lined with bookcases by Portuguese architect Manuel Maia Gomes was designed for a project called House Antero de Quental that involved converting the former home of a 19th-century poet into a literary centre, the building was redesigned as a literary centre that pays homage to architecture and the written word alike. The staircase spirals up through two storeys and into a tower. Lining the staircase, spiraling shelves are backlit through translucent plexiglass and accommodate 6,000 books. Its spiral circular shape arrangement allows one superior distribution of the books to any other provision enhancing thereby the available space. It also serves at the symbolic level to introduce the knowledge of the poet who has lived in this house, through the indefinitely curved line projected in the space, of the necessary reinvention of room. The House building use traditional materials, stone, stucco, providing new commodities as floor heating and ventilation. The floor are covered with recycled wood, cut from old structural beams composing one irregular brownish color of this resin wood, contrasting with the white painting used in walls and ceilings ,it gives a sense of userd space. The structure of the spiral library is made of steel, forming one cylinder, supporting the stairs, without touching the walls. The light comes above and behind the structure trough translucent plexiglas, by this effect the light is projected over the books as they should enlight their readers.
Portuguese Architect Manuel Maia Gomes via Dezeen
photo credit: Fernando Guerra
