An eye-catcher on two counts, the free-standing glass staircase over three floors links the executive offices at Comcast’s brand-new headquarters.

The stair tower is entirely supported by the 51st floor. The two steel girders measuring approximately 20 metres (66 ft) in length situated in the centre of the stair are anchored solely at the 54th floor. The only other connection is at the access points to the stair, however these do not bear any structural load. Otherwise, the apparently light, suspended structure does not touch the adjoining floors at all.

Its ingenious design provides a particularly attractive advertising space for the company as four large media walls were incorporated into the central structure to be used by the digital television provider for house advertising. For integrative purposes and on account of the incidence of light, these media walls are made of glass. Each media wall consists of nine individual TV monitors.

The treads, stringers and glass fins were manufactured by sedak and delivered prefabricated for the project. In addition to the laminated glass fins, the handrail is also designed to bear part of the structural load.

Whereas the load-bearing points in the stringers are fixed by screws, the fittings are laminated directly into the treads.