The Case for Capsule Hotel Staircases
When I first heard about the sixteen story exo staricase, the climbable centerpiece sculpture at Hudson Yards, NYC's new suburb within a city shopping mall, I must confess to being a bit dubious. Yet from the moment it opened it has proved to be a huge tourist draw. Rightly or wrongly, the most pressing concern of the average New York visitor now appears to be to climb to the top of an outdoor staircase as sculpture, and gaze across the Hudson
River at New Jersey. And lest you think the sentiment is held only by tourists, native New Yorkers do not merely gaze longingly toward the Garden State, they regularly make the pilgrimage to its largest shopping mall, Jersey Gardens in Elizabeth New Jersey practically next door to Newark Airport. Buses leave the Port Authority Bus Terminal all day long, westward bound for bargains not to be had in the Apple.
The point is simply that stairs are now seen as a something of a pleasant divertissement - are a sculptural cultural attraction with artistic bona fides. And not just a few of them, sixteen supersized flights. And so I think one may not necessarily be delusional to imagine that the capsule hotel might be successfully reworked so that its capsules are accessible by ascending a few flights of stairs rather than precariously climbing up pegs and tumbling in as best one can. In the design VRT proposes one climbs stairs to landings, then enters the capsule by sitting down on the capsule pad set to conventional bed mattress level.
The capsules shown in the drawings are of the same height as the admittedly more futuristic style capsules pioneered in Japan. What VRT's capsules lack in futurism, they try to make up for in ease of access and abundance of space, offering a king size mattress in a 6' by 7' capsule. In fact VRT looks to the past for its inspiration, adopting an interpretation of Art Deco styling to try to imbue the capsule experience with as much elegance as possible. VRT believes one of Art Deco's greatest virtues is the calm and confidence it engenders. Elegant, luxurious surroundings enhance and create a sense of leisure and ease.
The world's greatest marketing authority, the great Rory Sutherland, explains that good design removes or at least greatly reduces stress. What the tech minded designers dont get is that travelers don't necessarily want higher speed rail. Theyre happier to have an app telling them the next train will arrive in exactly 10 minutes as opposed to having to wait only 5 minutes but in a state of uncertainty. I highly recommend Rory's talks many of which you can find on Youtube like this one which gives an amusing and enlightening summary of his new book
One of my favorites is rule number 6: The problem with logic is that it kills off the magic. Too many of the nap pod / cubicle hotels have a terribly sterile look and feel. Yes they give you a place to catch a few zzz's but are generally devoid of what architectural theoretists Jay Appleton termed 'Prospect and Refuge', that sense of wonder and enchantment the great temples of the antique instilled in their visitors. Every great building must have a certain level of the enigmatic, must instill curiosity. VRT has tried to do this with curtains, screens, winding stairs and plush, exotic materials. As well the cubicles are cordoned off for calculated effect and to enhance privacy. Also a definitive entry and waiting area with a bank of sofas up against the wall is set up to create the major and minor space:
The structure shown has 64 units, each with a KINGSIZE matrress. 16 are ground floor units, 48 are on the outside, 16 are top floor units. Only 8 units have the admittedly somewhat cumbersome entry from a landing within the staircase - but much less cumbersome than what one finds in most cubicle hotels. 40 out of 64 are 'cul-de-sac' units which could easily be increased to 52 by the continuation of interior stairs.
