EX:ercise in craftsmanship
Building
a
concrete
spiral
staiway
Eight man-mo,nths of skilled labor in the formwork paid off for the
contractor. His own satisfaction of accomplishment was heightened by
enthusiastic approval from the owner and architect,
THE CHALLENGE: A spiral staircase in architectural
concrete, with a broad, curved landing three steps up and
a larger boat-shaped landing half way to the second floor.
Monolithic sidewalls supporting a polished brass hand-
rail end in scrolling curves with a 1-foot radius. With a
skylight above and overhanging cast-m-place planter box-
es at the upper landing level, the stairway is planned as
the dramatic focal point of a new public library. The
buiider has signed a fixed-price agreement based on es-
timates which, he realixes al1 too late, didn’t allow ade-
quately for the complexity of the stairway work. What
to do?
THE RESPONSE: Do the best possible work regard-
less of unusual costs. The contractor wisely recognixed
that the stairway would be the center of attention. ‘Ib
build it properly would require the fin& craftsmanship,
and no effort could be spared. Anything less might have
prejudiced acceptance of the whole job.
Sandblasted architectural concrete stairway ar fhe new
Cedar Rapids Public Library. Complex cu&es called for
time-consuming and ingenious formwork.
This article details some of the five months of forming
and placing operations required for successful comple-
tion of the stairs.
BUILDING THE FORMS
Complexity of the drawings provided a good early
warning for the form builders. After development of the
concept, the architect had kept one man busy two months
preparing the design drawing alone. The contractor
received 2V8 large sheets showing the layout and details..
F’rom this starting point, two men worked four months
constructing the forms. The formwork had to be finished
almost as carefully as cabinet work, and strong and rigid
enough to hold the fresh concrete and the men placing it.
Structural support for the stairs is provided by 304nch
round caissons, which extend 20 feet below the ground
floor to rock. The first landing, up three steps, is support-
ed directly on one of .these caissons. A second~landing,
CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION / FEBRUARY 1995 181
A. After &whm a
full-scale plan ,f the
stalm on the concrY)te
slab, carpenters
erected a metal
column which wouhi
ptvvkle center suppcft
for rbrmwork. steel
plates w3rr3 ~3lded tc
the post in line with
the face of each trwd.
R Wood studs wem set up at the outslde of the 2%
foot clrcle. Then 2x10s set bekw the location of.each stair
tmad WBT~ supported on the studs and on the steel plates
attached to the center metal post. Edges of the 2x10s wem
planed carefully to define the contour of the helical soffit.
half way to the second floor, fs carried by curving columns
about 8 feet high, resting on two other caissons.
Forming the sofftt
The stairway and its sidewalls lie within a 27-foot-
diameter circle The upper landing and planters have
their own radiuses as do the lower landing and the scroll-
ing curve with which the sidewalls end. To build all these
intersecting curwxl surfaces, the carpenter foreman decid-
ed to start with a full-scale layout which he drew on the
steel troweled floor slab. After creating this full plan of
the stairway, he set up a lo-inch-diameter steel post (Pho-
to A), which was braced to the main framing beams of
the library’s second floor.
C Soffit form for the staim was made of two /ayers of
plywood suppotted on 2x10s. This view of the inside of the
form shows outside Wall sheathing in place. Three thin
layers of plywood wem used to permit bending to the
design curva
Then began the task of forming the warped surface
of the underside of the spiral stairs. Steel plates were weld-
ed to the post in line with the position of each tread face
Wood studs were set up at the outside of the 27-foot cir-
cle Then 2x10s were placed under each tread location,
supported by the studs and bolted to plates on the center
post (Photo B). The edges of the 2x10s were next planed
cdy by hand to define the contour of the helical soffit
of the stair slab. Over this support, the soffit was formed
with two layers of plywood- Ve inch on the bottom and
V, inch above @‘hoto C). Thicker plywood could not have
been warped to the desired curvature With two layers,
it also was possible to offset joints and reduce the possi-
bility of leakage through the form.
Sidewalls for the stalnxse~
The stairs have exposed concrete sidewalls 3’1% feet high
above the treads, with a formed recess for the polished
brass handrail. Form ties used in these 8-inch walls had
plastic cones which left 2-inch-deep mcesses that became
a visual feature of the sandblasted concrete.
The walls were to be placed monolithically with the
stair soffit in a continuous pour. There were no control
joints and no construction joints. The contractor elected
to place about 12 inches of the concrete soffit in this con-
tinuous pour and then come back later to complete the
stair treads. This would leave no visible joints and be
much more convenient for the finishers. Stair tread con-
crete was doweled to the sidewalls.
Outer forms for the sidewalls were made of three lay-
ers of V,-inch plywood to facilitate precision curving to
the necessary radiuses-about 7 feet on one side and 13
feet on the other side of the stairs (Photo C). They were
backed up by supporting curved wood wales. Joints in
the forms were carefully sealed with plastic caulk.
The outer wall formscould be supported on studs and
joined to the soffit form at the bottom. The inner wall
CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION / FEBRUARY 1985 193
D. Forms for the two Inner faces of stahway sidewalls
were suspended from these wood 1’s made of two
2x10s. Forty-six job-built curved panels needed to make the
inner form had to be held above the soffit form to permit
monolithic casting of walls and soffit.

E. Curved forms for the inner wa// faces. Note gap

between form panel and soffit form to permit monolithic
casting.

forms presented a different problem because they had to

be suspended to permit continuous placing of soffit slab
and wall. The builders devised a set of inverted wood T’s
made of pairs of 2x6s which they could support on the
outside wall forms (Photo D). From these T’s they hung
the 46 job-built curved panels needed for the inner face
of the stair walls (Photo E). These panels were carefully
hung and fitted, then dismantled for placing the rein-
forcing bars, and suspended again with special attention
to joints between them. Slots were routed in the butting
edges of the panels, and sheet metal strips 1 inch wide
were inserted to hold the panels in alignment and to help
prevent leakage
Difficult details
A continuous recess running the length of ,the inside
wall form was needed to accommodate the brass hand-
rail. This recess was formed with blockouts made of six
layers of hardboard, hand sculpted to the cm-ved contour,
smoothed with gypsum plaster, and coated with shellac.
The blockouts were mounted on the curved inside wall
form panels. In effect, this reduced the wall thickness
from 8 to 5Ve inches at the top, adding to the difficulty
of placing concrete
Even greater problems faced the form builders at the
bottom of the stairs where the wall ended in a curve with
12-inch radius, which could not be formed like the rest
of the wall (Photo F). Expanded metal lath, coated with
gypsum plaster provided part of the solution, where the

E Stairway railings ended in a curve with l-foot radius,

requiring unorthodox forming. This vio, looking down
into the form, shows externa/ bracing required because ties
could not be installed here.

handrail recess assumed a more complex shape. The car-

penter foreman had to work within narrow confines to
caulk joints where this piece joined with the other forms.
Here it was impossible to use form ties, and heavy exter-
nal bracing was required to resist the concrete pressure.

PLACING THE CONCRETE

The concrete, much of which would be exposed and
sandblasted, had a design strength of 4006 psi. Local river
grave1 of 3/,-inch maximum size in varied colors was used
as toarse aggregate. The Portland cement was standard
gray Type 1. Slump was held to 3 inches, and a retarder
was used for al1 but the first load delivered.
Form planning had started in January, but concrete
wasn’t placed until May when the temperature was
around 66 degrees E The surrounding building frame had
been completed by then, and artificial heating was not
needed for stairway pours.
Because of cramped spaces and the critica1 nature of
the work, a rehearsal was conducted for laborers han-
dling the concrete and the vibrators before any concrete
was delivered. Wo vibrators were used, a regular 2-inch
spud and a 3/r-inch pencil vibrator. Concrete was con-
veyed in a bucket with elephant trunk by crane from the
Street through a skylight.
The monolithic stair soffit and walls were concreted
slowly over a ô-hour period. The total pour was 35 cubic
ya&, and deliveries were made in 3-yard batches to ac-
commodate the crew working carefully in tight spaces
to prevent honeycombing that would disfigure the archi-
0. Stair steps wem placed in a second Iift on top of the 12-lnch soffit
slab poured monolithlcally wlth sidewalls. Dow& anchored this lift to fhe
walls. Steel truweled treads were later covered with carpeting.
tectural surfaces. Fortunately, the
ready mix plant was just across the
Street so delivery could be carefully
controlled.
The 8-inch walls, which narrowed
to only 5Ve inches at the leve1 of the
handrail, had #8 bars near the top.
To help improve, access for placing
the concrete below, those final bars
were not set into place until the form
had been filled to that level. After the
wall forms had been stripped, a sec-
ond concrete placement was made to
complete the stair steps (Photo G).
The tread surfaces were steel trow-
eled for later installation of carpet-
ing. Planter boxes at the upper land-
ing were cast several weeks after the
rest of the stairway work, bringing
the final total of concrete to about
49 cubic yards.
Careful detailing and sealing of
joints left forms so tight that the
builder says “less than a quart” of ce-
ment paste leaked during the entire
pour.
THE HAPPY ENDINO
Form stripping revealed a highly
successful piece of work, which has
since been sandblasted to a depth of
Ve to ‘Is inch, like the exposed con-
crete in the building around it. Sec-
ond floor and roof waffle slabs as
well as beams and columns al1 con-
tribute to the architectural effect.
With carpeting and polished hand-
rail added on the stairs, plants over-
hanging the planter boxes, and a ’
flood of light from the skylight
above, the treasured focal point of
the library has been completed.
A concrete stairway whose cost
goes well above $1299 per cubic yard
has paid off for the constructor who .
spared no effort in building it. When
the completed building was tumed
over to the library board in Decem-
ber 1984, the architect, the board,
and the public had lavish praise for
the finished job.
Acknowledgment:
Thanks to Gordon Gates of Gates and Sons,
Denver, and to Steve Chmelar of Carroll Dis-
tributing and Construction Supply in Ottum-
wa, Iowa for alerting CONCRETE CONSTRUC
TION to this story.
Credlts:
Architects: Brown Healey Bock FC. and
McConnell Steveley Anderson RC., Cedar
Flapids, Iowa
Engineers: Shive-Hattety and Associates, Ce
dar Rapids, Iowa
General Contractor: Knutson Construction
Company, Minneapolis; Superlntendent: Ar-
thur J. Rinderknecht; Carpenter Poreman:
Jon A. Rinderknecht
Owner: Cedar Rapids Public Librar-y, Cedar
Rapids, Iowa
Fcr photo ackncwledgments
ses page 230.