Innovation award for the world's largest self-supporting staircase

摘要

Seele GmbH & Co. KG (Gersthofen/ Germany) was presented with the 'Innovation Award Architecture and Glass' during Glasstec 2006 for its development of the world's largest self-supporting staircase, manufactured almost entireLy from laminated glass. What impressed the adjudicators was not only the significant length of the sidewalls of the staircase -at 8.5 metres they are a good 2.5 metres longer than existing staircase of this type - but also the first-time use of a non-positive-fit connection between the steps and the sidewalls, thus waiving the need for boreholes and the bolts normally used for conventional positive-fit, bolt-fixed connections. This pioneering development was made possible by the application of DuPont~(TM) SentryGlas~R Plus high-strength laminated glass interlayers, which were used both for the manufacture of the glass steps and sidewalls and the laminated-on stainless steel mountings. Seele developed this award-winning all-glass staircase in collaboration with the IBK (Institute of Building Design) and the ITKE (Institute of Supporting Structures and Structural Design) of the University of Stuttgart.