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National Gallery of Art
MONUMENTAL STAIR
The National Gallery of Art in Washington DC recently renovated it's East Wing, and Crescent Iron Works was entrusted to fabricate their monumental stair. The stair was designed as two triangles forming a rhombus. In order to create a stair with complex geometric shapes, Crescent Iron Works created numerous mock-ups and fit ups in our shop to ensure proper fit up.
From the Rails to the Stringer, making the points of the Rhombus come together took precise measuring, fabrication and installation to achieve
The stair allows visitors access to all five levels of the gallery, improving foot traffic throughout the building
The glass and rails were also part of the stair package and produced in conjunction with Crescent Iron Works' stair fabrication. The coordination of this stair required all vendors to be in near constant communication.
FIT UP
Once the stair was in fabrication it became apparent that a full size fit up of the stair would be required to ensure the finished product met the design. See above for the stringer assemblies being built from the ground up.
Once the stringers were completed, their custom tread pans were installed to make the stair units. These units were shipped out as full pieces to ensure proper fit up in the field.
Once the stair units were fabricated, the units were fit together to ensure the field installation would not have any issues. The stair flights were numbered and great care was taken in delivery to ensure that the proper units were placed in the correct order.
A view of the stair, while in the middle of installation. The stair units fit up similar to how they were put together in the shop. This fit up in the shop proved invaluable to providing our client with the finished product they desired.