DEX has produced thousands of stair treads for monumental and feature staircases. Any of our material types can be used for the treads and once again, these can all be custom designs. With our experience, we understand the functional and structural criteria required for treads and landing and work closely with our clients to assure a successful outcome. Treads can be built in simple flat slabs or with an integral riser. Treads can be built to fit on supportive substrates or be self-supporting and span from stringer to stringer.
A few of the staircase projects DEX has produced are profiled in the images in this section. Projects of high detail and large scope require planning as monumental staircases have many moving parts. DEX can collaborate with the design and engineering and installation teams to assure a successful outcome of these high profile projects.
Appian, McLean Virginia. The Appian headquarters features 130 treads and seven landings
produced with Dexterity High Performance Concrete (HPC). The treads and landings are
custom-colored and polished to match the existing flooring. Each is formed with a recess to hide
the 3/8” steel structural pan, which the treads are installed upon.
CODA Tech Square, Atlanta, GA – DEX produced 350 treads and 16 radiused landings for the
world’s tallest spiral staircase. CODA Tech Square, a 645,000 square foot space designed by
John Portman and Associates and developed by Portman holdings, serves as the core of
collaboration and innovation at Midtown’s Tech Square. The CODA gives companies the unique
opportunity to co-locate with others within Georgia Tech’s innovation ecosystem, which features
some of the world’s best engineering and computer science programs.
Porsche, North American Headquarters, Atlanta Georgia – Porsche’s North American
Headquarters features three monumental staircases. The staircase design required treads to
fully span 8’ and be self-supporting with an integral riser on the front of the tread as well as
formed warning grooves. Ductal UHPC (ultra high performance concrete) was used for this
project.
ThermoFisher Scientific, Waltham, Massachusetts – A custom recycled glass terrazzo was used
for this highly complex monumental staircase, with polish applied to all four sides for maximum
visibility. The front staircase custom treads were more than 10 feet long, 4” thick, and formed in
a continuous radius with bent stainless steel traction strips integrated into the nosing, and a
formed groove to accept a polycarbonate riser on the back and bottom of the tread. The glass
handrails are also supported by attachments to the actual stair treads.
Vestavia Hills Library, Alabama – As part of “The Library in the Forest,” DEX by GATE supplied
treads for the monumental staircase made from our Dexterra Pearl finish, which is made from
crushed European Mother of Pearl shell. Four nosing grooves were also formed into the treads
to provide a visual warning and slip resistance.
