Two of the bedrooms can be reached only via exterior staircases, which is not uncommon in Cape Dutch homes of this era.
Were it not for the low, arched doorways and unusually steep and narrow staircases, which were treacherous after a glass of Kasteel (the potent, fittingly named Belgian ale that I ordered at the hostel bar), the interior of Westhove could have been that of any other hostel, anywhere in the world.
In addition, the redox behaviour of the MWNTs shows a series of discrete single electron-transfer events (a coulomb staircase), which are undetected in the case of SWNTs.
State preservation regulations dictated where the mezzanine balustrade could be cut to add a staircase, which was directly opposite the front door.
When Ed Ryan invited us to his most recent show, eventually we were able to shuffle inside & ascend the staircase, which is decorated with a mural of human figures in many colors.
The remaining obstacle was logistical: City Hall was under construction, and architects worried that the rotunda's soaring marble staircase, which was used each year to announce a budget agreement, would collapse under the weight of the Council's 51 members.
As she heads up the large staircase, which is illuminated by three leaded-glass windows, she runs her hand along the banister as if she were stroking a treasured pet.
"First I saw the Frank Stella in the foyer, then the curving staircase – which was like a sculpture in itself – and in his office he had these floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.
So I was somewhat daunted when I entered the Noailleses' residence at 11 Place des États-Unis, where Marie-Laure had lived for decades, and walked up the staircase, which was hung with Courbets, Watteaus, and Burne-Joneses, interspersed with works by Paul Klee, Juan Gris, and Balthus.
As one steps inside the building, the eye goes first to the central staircase, which is lit from below by bright white light — a bolt of energy that zigzags up the big open atrium to the glass rooftop, where steel ribs, which support louvres that close when the sun gets too bright, embody more of the arabesques that Hadid's pen traced on paper eleven years earlier.
