■An artistic spiral staircase beside a Hong Kong skyscraper

Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, “The Henderson” is a landmark skyscraper in Hong Kong. KIKUKAWA previously fabricated the stainless steel exterior panels for the elevated pedestrian footbridge at the base of the building. Following the tower’s completion, KIKUKAWA was additionally commissioned to fabricate the panels for a spiral staircase linking the footbridge to the ground level.
This spiral staircase descends into “The Henderson Art Garden,” a sculptural garden also designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. Echoing the building’s design concept, the staircase traces elegant curves and stands as an art piece in its own right. To faithfully realize this design, KIKUKAWA applied advanced three-dimensional forming technologies.

■Highly complex three-dimensional panels forming the spiral

▲A three-dimensional panel in the process of fabrication

As with the pedestrian footbridge, the base material is stainless steel with a finish being PHL (vibration). For this spiral staircase, nearly 80% of the approximately 200 panels required three-dimensional forming. Each panel was fabricated with extreme precision to ensure the adjacent curved surfaces flow seamlessly into a smooth, continuous spiral.
Particularly challenging were the inner panels of the spiral with a “saddle-shaped” geometry (convex vertically and concave horizontally, also known as a hyperbolic paraboloid), as well as the panels at the connecting deck that are even more complex. These areas demanded exceptional processing accuracy and advanced technical expertise.

Click here to find out more about Kikukawa’s 3D forming technology

■Achieving higher quality in a tight production schedule

Despite the high level of technical difficulty, fabrication was completed in just six months. Moreover, because the staircase panels are installed closer to pedestrians’ eye level than the footbridge, an even higher level of finish quality was required.
To meet both the demanding schedule and quality expectations, KIKUKAWA adopted an advanced panel forming method that improves both precision and efficiency. Leveraging the data and experience accumulated during the previous project, we were able to proceed smoothly and efficiently.

■Round column covers having a perfect true circle

KIKUKAWA also fabricated the round column covers beneath the connecting deck. The column, 1.5 meters in diameter, is composed of 15nos radius curved panels (five divisions around the circumference multiplied by three divisions vertically).
Generally, the more segments a round column has, the more difficult it becomes to achieve a true circle. In this case, the five unequal circumferential divisions presented an additional challenge. Drawing on our extensive experience and expertise in round column cover fabrication, we achieved a beautifully precise column covers.

Click here to find out more about Kikukawa’s column covers

■KIKUKAWA quality trusted by the client

This spiral staircase project was an additional commission awarded based on the quality and responsiveness demonstrated in the previous footbridge work. The client representative shared that they strongly recommended KIKUKAWA products to their management for this project, based on proven results.

In response to this trust and expectation, we devoted ourselves to delivering even higher quality within a tight schedule, ultimately achieving a result that satisfied the architects and all project stakeholders.

Click here to find out more about our previous project: The Henderson, Pedestrian Bridge