Minimalist Staircase Elegantly Frames Built-In Bookshelf

Netherlands-based firm Marc Koehler Architects designed a staircase that doubles as a bookshelf for its homeowners. The elegant structure features a set of minimalist, white wooden stairs that frame a large, well-used shelving unit below. It's a creative way to store the residents' bevy of books whose arrangement mimics the shape of the steps.

This staircase was a redesign for the Amsterdam-based house. The residents wanted to connect the two floors, but they didn't want to lose the book-storing capabilities of a cupboard that was first there. The architects' solution was to treat the new staircase as a furniture element. They redefined its role as a pathway and expanded it into a storage unit. Cloaked in a sleek, neutral color, it allows the bright book covers to be the most eye-catching part of the room.

Photography by Marcel van der Burg

Marc Koehler Architects website
via [Contemporist]

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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