ABOUT THE SPEAKER
David Rockwell - Architect, experience designer
Architect David Rockwell draws on his love of drama and spectacle to create fantastic, high-impact restaurants, cultural facilities, airline terminals, theater sets -- and playgrounds.

Why you should listen

David Rockwell, FAIA, is the Founder and President of Rockwell Group, an award-winning, cross-disciplinary architecture and design practice based in New York City with a satellite office in Madrid. The firm crafts a unique narrative for each project through the intersection of theater and architecture.

Projects include Nobu restaurants and hotels worldwide; The New York EDITION; the Union Square Cafe (New York); NeueHouse (New York and Los Angeles); the TED Theater (Vancouver); W Hotels worldwide; 15 Hudson Yards and The Shed in collaboration with Diller Scofidio + Renfro; the Imagination Playground initiative; and set designs for Falsettos, She Loves Me and Kinky Boots. From surface and floor coverings for Maya Romanoff, The Rug Company and Jim Thompson, to lighting for Rich Brilliant Willing, to furniture for Stellar Works and Knoll, the firm celebrates product design as a natural extension of its immersive environments.

Honors and recognition include 2016 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Scenic Design for She Loves Me; the AIANY President’s Award; Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award; the Presidential Design Award; Fast Company's World's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies; the James Beard Foundation Who's Who of Food & Beverage in America; and the Interior Design Hall of Fame. Rockwell serves on the boards of the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA), Citymeals-on-Wheels, the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum and New York Restoration Project. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.

(Photo: Brigitte Lacombe)

More profile about the speaker
David Rockwell | Speaker | TED.com
Small Thing Big Idea

David Rockwell: The hidden ways stairs shape your life

David Rockwell: La manera imperceptible en que las escaleras modelan la vida

Filmed:
505,085 views

Las escaleras no solo te ayudan a ir de un lugar a otro. El arquitecto David Rockwell explica cómo modelan tu movimiento... y tus sensaciones.
- Architect, experience designer
Architect David Rockwell draws on his love of drama and spectacle to create fantastic, high-impact restaurants, cultural facilities, airline terminals, theater sets -- and playgrounds. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
I think stairsescalera maymayo be
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Creo que la escalera puede ser
00:14
one of the mostmás emotionallyemocionalmente
malleablemaleable physicalfísico elementselementos
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uno de los elementos físicos
más emocionalmente maleables
00:19
that an architectarquitecto has to work with.
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con que un arquitecto trabaja.
00:21
[SmallPequeña thing. BigGrande ideaidea.]
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[Cosa pequeña. Idea grande.]
00:24
[DavidDavid RockwellRockwell on
the StairsEscaleras]
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[David Rockwell habla de las escaleras]
00:27
At its mostmás basicBASIC, a stairescalera is a way
to get from pointpunto A to pointpunto B
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En el sentido más básico, una escalera
es una manera de ir de un lugar a otro
00:31
at differentdiferente elevationselevaciones.
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a diferentes alturas.
00:32
StairsEscaleras have a commoncomún languageidioma.
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Las escaleras tienen un lenguaje en común.
00:35
TreadsLas pisadas, whichcual is the thing
that you walkcaminar on.
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La huella, la parte en que se pisa.
00:38
RiserCanalización vertical, whichcual is the verticalvertical elementelemento
that separatescoordinados the two treadspisadas.
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La contrahuella, el elemento vertical
que separa las dos huellas.
00:42
A lot of stairsescalera have nosingsrebordes de
that createcrear a kindtipo of edgeborde.
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Muchas escaleras tienen voladizos,
que forman una clase de borde.
00:45
And then, the connectedconectado piecepieza
is a stringerlarguero.
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Y la parte conectada es una zanca.
00:49
Those piecespiezas, in differentdiferente formsformularios,
make up all stairsescalera.
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Esas piezas, en diferentes formas,
constituyen toda escalera.
00:53
I assumeasumir stairsescalera camevino to be
from the first time someonealguien said,
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Supongo que la escalera se originó
la primera vez que alguien dijo:
00:56
"I want to get to this highermayor rockrock
from the lowerinferior rockrock."
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"Quiero subir a esa roca alta
desde la roca más baja".
00:59
People climbedescalado
usingutilizando whateverlo que sea was availabledisponible:
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La gente escalaba usando
cualquier cosa disponible:
01:01
steppedcaminado logsregistros, laddersEscaleras
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troncos escalonados, escaleras de mano
01:04
and naturalnatural pathwayscaminos
that were wornpasado over time.
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y senderos naturales que
se formaron con el tiempo.
01:06
Some of the earliestmás temprano staircasesescaleras,
like the pyramidspirámides in ChichChichén ItzItzá
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Algunas de las escaleras más antiguas,
como las pirámides en Chichén Itzá
01:10
or the roadscarreteras to MountMontar TaiTai in ChinaChina,
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o los caminos al Monte Tai en China
01:12
were a meansmedio of gettingconsiguiendo
to a highermayor elevationelevación,
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eran una manera de subir
a una elevación más alta
01:15
whichcual people soughtbuscado
for worshiprendir culto or for protectionproteccion.
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que la gente buscaba para venerar
o en busca de protección.
01:18
As engineeringIngenieria has evolvedevolucionado,
so has what's practicalpráctico.
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Con la evolución de la ingeniería
evoluciona lo práctico.
01:22
StairsEscaleras can be madehecho
from all kindsclases of materialmaterial.
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Las escaleras se hacen
de todo tipo de material.
01:25
There are linearlineal stairsescalera,
there are spiraleden espiral stairsescalera.
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Hay escaleras lineales,
escaleras de caracol.
01:27
StairsEscaleras can be indoorsadentro,
they can be outdoorsal aire libre.
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Las escaleras pueden estar adentro,
pueden estar afuera.
01:30
They clearlyclaramente help us in an emergencyemergencia.
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Claro, nos ayudan en una emergencia.
01:32
But they're alsoademás a formformar of artart
in and of themselvessí mismos.
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Pero también son una forma de arte en sí.
Conforme nos movemos por una escalera,
01:40
As we movemovimiento acrossa través de a stairwayescalera,
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01:42
the formformar dictatesdicta our pacingritmo,
our feelingsensación, our safetyla seguridad
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la forma dicta nuestro paso,
nuestra sensación, nuestra seguridad
01:47
and our relationshiprelación and engagementcompromiso
with the spaceespacio around us.
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y nuestra relación e interacción
con el espacio circundante.
01:51
So for a secondsegundo, think about steppingcaminando down
a gradualgradual, monumentalmonumental staircaseescalera
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Piensa por un momento en bajar
por una escalera gradual y monumental,
01:56
like the one in frontfrente
of the NewNuevo YorkYork PublicPúblico LibraryBiblioteca.
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como la escalera de la
Biblioteca Pública de Nueva York.
01:59
From those stepspasos,
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Desde esas escaleras,
02:00
you have a viewver of the streetcalle
and all the people around you,
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tienes una vista de la calle
y de toda la gente a tu alrededor,
02:03
and your walkcaminar is slowlento and steadyestable
because the treadhuella is so wideamplio.
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y el paso es lento y estable
porque la huella es muy ancha.
02:07
That's a totallytotalmente differentdiferente experienceexperiencia
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Esa es una experiencia totalmente distinta
02:10
than going down the narrowestrecho staircaseescalera
to, say, an oldantiguo pubpub,
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que bajar por, digamos,
la escalera estrecha de un viejo bar,
02:13
where you spillderramar into the roomhabitación.
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donde entras cayendo al lugar.
02:14
There, you encounterencuentro tallalto risersrisers,
so you movemovimiento more quicklycon rapidez.
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Allí encuentras contrahuellas altas,
así que te mueves más rápido.
02:18
StairsEscaleras addañadir enormousenorme dramadrama.
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Las escaleras añaden
un dramatismo considerable.
02:20
Think about how stairsescalera
signaledseñalado a grandgrandioso entranceEntrada
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Piensa cómo la escalera
señalaba una gran entrada
02:23
and were the starestrella of that momentmomento.
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y era la estrella del momento.
02:25
StairsEscaleras can even be heroicheroico.
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Las escaleras pueden ser hasta heroicas.
02:27
The staircaseescalera that remainedse mantuvo standingen pie
after Septemberseptiembre 11thth
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La escalera que quedó en pie
después del 11 de septiembre
02:30
and the attackataque on the WorldMundo TradeComercio CenterCentrar
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2016
y el atentado del World Trade Center
02:32
was dubbeddoblado the "Survivors'Sobrevivientes StaircaseEscalera,"
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se apodó la "Escalera
de los Sobrevivientes",
02:34
because it playedjugó suchtal a centralcentral rolepapel
in leadinglíder hundredscientos of people to safetyla seguridad.
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porque tuvo un papel principal
en llevar a cientos de personas
a un lugar seguro.
02:39
But smallpequeña stairsescalera
can have a hugeenorme impactimpacto, too.
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Pero una escalera pequeña también
puede tener un impacto enorme.
02:41
The stoopagacharse is a placelugar
that invitesinvita neighborsvecinos to gatherreunir,
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La escalera de entrada
invita a los vecinos a reunirse,
02:44
blastexplosión musicmúsica, and watch the cityciudad in motionmovimiento.
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a poner música a todo volumen
y a ver la ciudad en movimiento.
02:48
It's fascinatingfascinante to me that you see people
wantingfalto to hangcolgar out on the stairsescalera.
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Me fascina ver personas que quieren
pasar tiempo en la escalera.
02:51
I think they fillllenar
a deeplyprofundamente humanhumano need we have
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Creo que están satisfaciendo
un deseo profundamente humano que tenemos
02:56
to inhabithabitar a spaceespacio
more than just on the groundsuelo planeavión.
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de habitar un espacio
en un plano más allá del suelo.
03:00
And so if you're ablepoder to sitsentar
halfwayMedio camino up there,
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Así que si puedes sentarte
por allí a media escalera,
03:05
you're in a kindtipo of magicalmágico placelugar.
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entras a un lugar mágico.
Translated by Camille Martínez
Reviewed by Sebastian Betti

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
David Rockwell - Architect, experience designer
Architect David Rockwell draws on his love of drama and spectacle to create fantastic, high-impact restaurants, cultural facilities, airline terminals, theater sets -- and playgrounds.

Why you should listen

David Rockwell, FAIA, is the Founder and President of Rockwell Group, an award-winning, cross-disciplinary architecture and design practice based in New York City with a satellite office in Madrid. The firm crafts a unique narrative for each project through the intersection of theater and architecture.

Projects include Nobu restaurants and hotels worldwide; The New York EDITION; the Union Square Cafe (New York); NeueHouse (New York and Los Angeles); the TED Theater (Vancouver); W Hotels worldwide; 15 Hudson Yards and The Shed in collaboration with Diller Scofidio + Renfro; the Imagination Playground initiative; and set designs for Falsettos, She Loves Me and Kinky Boots. From surface and floor coverings for Maya Romanoff, The Rug Company and Jim Thompson, to lighting for Rich Brilliant Willing, to furniture for Stellar Works and Knoll, the firm celebrates product design as a natural extension of its immersive environments.

Honors and recognition include 2016 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Scenic Design for She Loves Me; the AIANY President’s Award; Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award; the Presidential Design Award; Fast Company's World's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies; the James Beard Foundation Who's Who of Food & Beverage in America; and the Interior Design Hall of Fame. Rockwell serves on the boards of the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA), Citymeals-on-Wheels, the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum and New York Restoration Project. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.

(Photo: Brigitte Lacombe)

More profile about the speaker
David Rockwell | Speaker | TED.com

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