staircase — Michele Hratko Design

Creating an exciting transition between two levels of a busy academic building.

I worked with a group to develop two spatial experience concepts in an existing academic space oN CMU’s campus. Our group approached the project by creating pairs to take ownership of each concept while still collaborating on ideas and design decisions. I worked more closely on this staircase concept, creating sketches, modeling the stairs in SketchUp, and creating the floorplans and Photoshop renderings.

*Purely conceptual; for this class we weren’t concerned with architectural standards or guidelines in our process, but we did design with safety in mind.

User Experience, Spatial Experiences, & 3D Rendering

Time: February - March 2024, 4 weeks
Team: Zeqe Golomb, Sophie Hao, TJ Ahn
Tools: Photoshop, SketchUp, Illustrator

The Existing Space

A lounge and walkway between classrooms in the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University.

User Research

We conducted research through primary interviews of people passing through and working in the space, a Google Form taped up in the space, and observations of how people used the space at different times of day. We consolidated research through affinity diagraming to lead to main takeaways for how the space is used.

1. Many people use this space as a transition or waiting space before or after class rather than a dedicated workspot.

2. There were conflicting opinions on whether the space was loud and distracting or quiet.
We realized it depends on the time of day. When class ends, tons of people move through in a short period of time making it chaotic and hard to navigate. Otherwise the space is relatively quiet, with few people hanging out there.

3. People really appreciate the high ceilings and natural light.
This is a unique feature of this newly designed building; most historical CMU buildings are pretty dark.

4. People are unsure how to interact with the existing furniture. The center couches are generally avoided.

Insights

Leaning into takeaways from our research that students were mostly just passing through the space, we developed the following how might we question to guide our design process:

How might we make the transition between floor levels more engaging and exciting for students?

Ideation

While developing our concept we leaned into a recurring theme from our research: the natural light, high windows, and outdoor view that the space provides. We took inspiration from the natural world because the outdoors is a space that encourages play and exploration, aligning with the goal of our HMW question.

The Concept

An interactive series of platforms that’s integrated with a staircase up to the second floor, along with matching furniture along the second floor balcony. The staircase provides a space for people to relax between classes but also creates room for adventure and exploration between the floors.

Our design was also largely informed by the existing curved balcony of the second floor. The staircase is designed to mirror and reflect this curve.

Process

I worked very closely on developing this stair structure through sketching and 3D rendering. My group worked collaboratively on a shared slide deck to record our moodboards, sketches, feedback from our teachers, and facilitate group discussions. These are select screenshots from our slide deck of slides that I worked closely on.

Contact

Updated June 2025