Bookcase / stairs / mezzanine issue - solved!

If you have been following our journey, you would recall that one of the sad "first world problems" encountered in designing our house was the issue of how to access the floor-to-ceiling bookcase and be able to access the mezzanine in the living room.
The initial plan was for a rolling ladder, but as the mezzanine is likely to be for guest use, we wanted something a bit more accessible (for the older guest) to use.


Side view of living area with previous "rolling" ladder
along bookcase to mezzanine

It was over coffee and chocolate cake with friends recently that a very exciting opportunity presented itself.
These particular friends collectively form DavisThomas - a rather talented sculptural ensemble. To view some of their public commissions, just click davisthomas HERE.
Viktoria was secretly planning on asking Adrian (Davis) to maybe perhaps design something for the grounds once the build was complete, but on listening to her whine about the bookcase/stair/mezzanine design challenge, Adrian said he would like to have a go at it if we were interested. We couldn't say "yes" fast enough, as we have both always loved his work. And of course we wanted to pay him (though the cheeky creature is charging "mate's rates").
Several design sessions and even more coffee later, behold! Our bespoke staircase-book-thing (from the wonderfully warped mind of A.D) demonstrating what can happen when you ask a sculptor to design a bookcase and/or set of stairs for you:

View from kitchen through to back wall of living room

View (if you could see through the back wall) showing spiral stairs though bookcase

View from floating over the ceiling of the living room



View from standing outside looking through glass sliding doors

The clever boy has solved our storage and access issues, managed to maintain the floorspace, and given us a crazy-awesome chrysalis in the corner of our living room.
The plan is for it to be laser cut (and AD will weld the stairs) and flat-packed for shipping down with all our belongings, so that it can be installed after the main build is complete.
We were really conscious that we didn't want to upset Neal-the-architect by bringing someone onto the project without his input, but Neal was very gracious (as always) - and probably resigned to the fact that this committee at least, was bound at some point to run off and do something odd.
In the meantime, the less interesting but more important work around getting the Bush Fire Management Plan and Onsite Waste Water Management Plans completed and signed off has been progressing. Viktoria has feedback on the draft Bush Fire Management Plan which she needs to give to Neal (but email has been conspiring against her and she cannot seem to forward anything to JAWS). She will resort to faxing the reports this coming week.
Slowly but surely we are creeping ever closer to submitting the Development Application...
V&A