Uber Freight Stairs

From the Archive: 

Grand Spiral Staircase at Uber Freight Offices

The structural constitution of the staircase came with unique architectural challenges. To achieve the illusion of a floating helix, a custom connection system was developed, allowing for quick adjustments during installation. "This ensured we could achieve alignment of each element, despite the inconsistencies in the century-old building's structure" explains James Riviello, ChiLab's installation team coordinator. 

John Kuzma @rustyobjects, a former finishing mentor of Ben's, came from Puget Sound Washington to bring his expertise by creating the unique blue patina which left the stairs looking like aged, oiled bronze. Ben Stagl recounts how John's involvement came to fruition, “He was definitely an extremely talented role model and mentor. I hadn't talked to him in probably about 15 years when I called him up about this project. I'm just elated that first he and his wife came out to visit to kind of look at things, to see if it was worth him leaving the house for”. Ben’s longtime friend and design collaborator Ryah Radomski(@ryahradomski) came from Oregon to support the installation and fine tuning of both the staircase and the feature wall. Another one of Ben and Ally’s long-time collaborators, James Riviello(https://www.linkedin.com/in/jjriviello/) of Pennsylvania Glassworks came to lead the install team. Finally local artist, metals specialist, and long time friend Salvador Dominguez(@salvador_dominguez_) came to show support for the project.

With the support and guidance of Local 63 union ironworkers Paul Goodrich(@paullgood) and many others, the individual rolled panels which were fabricated at ChiLab and assembled onsite.  Sheet rolling was provided by @chicago_metal_rolled_products and structural steel was provided by Corsetti Structural Steel.