This Smart Staircase by Ahmed Hussein Designs Lights Up With Each Step

Using stairs is probably one of the most mundane, humdrum experiences we simply have to go through everyday. Up and down the stairs, down and up the stairs. And the cycle just keeps going on and on and on. The staircase inside this stylish family home in New Cairo, however, provides just the right amount of entertainment.

Great designs usually opt for artworks alongside the staircase, or getting creative with the shape of the staircase, to make the experience a bit more engaging. Cairo-based design studio Ahmed Hussein Designs and finishing company Sole Fine Works relied, instead, on a staircase that guides you with lights.

Hugged by ribbed walls with a cool, dark shade of grey and sleek lighting appliques, the staircase here is intelligent, lighting up as you approach it and lead the way before you. Guided by the lights, you’d go up and down the staircase without ever feeling like it’s a dull experience.

Technically, the mechanism is quite simple. Each step has a LED strip attached to the bottom of its tread. Every one of those strips is connected to a unit that’s activated through a motion sensor placed at the beginning of the flight. But why try to understand it? Let’s assume it’s magic. Life’s easier this way.