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: As formas ocultas com que escadas moldam sua vida

Filmed:
505,085 views

Escadas não só te levam do ponto A ao ponto B. O arquiteto David Rockwell explica como elas moldam seus movimentos e suas sensações.
- 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 stairs may be
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Escadas talvez
sejam um dos elementos físicos
mais emocionalmente maleáveis
00:14
one of the most emotionally
malleable physical elements
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para um arquiteto trabalhar.
00:19
that an architect has to work with.
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00:21
[Small thing. Big idea.]
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[Pequeno objeto. Grande ideia]
00:24
[David Rockwell on
the Stairs]
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[David Rockwell fala sobre escadas]
00:27
At its most basic, a stair is a way
to get from point A to point B
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Em princípio, uma escada
é um caminho do ponto A ao B
00:31
at different elevations.
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em elevações diferentes.
00:32
Stairs have a common language.
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Escadas têm uma linguagem comum.
00:35
Treads, which is the thing
that you walk on.
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Degraus, onde andamos.
00:38
Riser, which is the vertical element
that separates the two treads.
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Passo vertical, o elemento vertical
que separa os degraus.
00:42
A lot of stairs have nosings
that create a kind of edge.
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Muitas escadas têm saliências
que criam um tipo de borda,
00:45
And then, the connected piece
is a stringer.
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e a peça ligadora é a viga.
00:49
Those pieces, in different forms,
make up all stairs.
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Estas partes, em formas diferentes,
compõem todas as escadas.
00:53
I assume stairs came to be
from the first time someone said,
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Penso que escadas surgiram
na primeira vez que alguém disse:
00:56
"I want to get to this higher rock
from the lower rock."
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"Quero ir para aquela rocha mais alta
desta rocha mais baixa".
00:59
People climbed
using whatever was available:
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As pessoas subiam
com a ajuda do que havia:
01:01
stepped logs, ladders
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degraus de troncos, escadas
01:04
and natural pathways
that were worn over time.
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e caminhos naturais
que se abriam com o tempo.
01:06
Some of the earliest staircases,
like the pyramids in Chichén Itzá
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Algumas das escadas mais antigas,
como as pirâmides em Chichén Itzá
01:10
or the roads to Mount Tai in China,
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ou as estradas para o Monte Dai, na China,
01:12
were a means of getting
to a higher elevation,
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eram formas de se chegar
a uma elevação mais alta
01:15
which people sought
for worship or for protection.
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que pessoas procuravam
para adoração ou proteção.
01:18
As engineering has evolved,
so has what's practical.
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A engenharia evoluiu e, com ela,
evoluiu aquilo que é prático.
01:22
Stairs can be made
from all kinds of material.
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Escadas podem ser feitas
de todo o tipo de material.
01:25
There are linear stairs,
there are spiraled stairs.
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Há escadas lineares e espirais.
01:27
Stairs can be indoors,
they can be outdoors.
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Escadas podem ser internas ou externas.
01:30
They clearly help us in an emergency.
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Elas nos ajudam em emergências,
01:32
But they're also a form of art
in and of themselves.
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mas são também em si uma forma de arte.
Quando nos deslocamos numa escada,
01:40
As we move across a stairway,
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01:42
the form dictates our pacing,
our feeling, our safety
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o formato dela dita nosso passo,
nossa sensação, nossa segurança
01:47
and our relationship and engagement
with the space around us.
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e nossa relação e envolvimento
com o espaço à nossa volta.
01:51
So for a second, think about stepping down
a gradual, monumental staircase
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Por um segundo, pense em descer
uma escada gradual e monumental
01:56
like the one in front
of the New York Public Library.
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como a da frente da Biblioteca
Pública de Nova York.
01:59
From those steps,
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Desses degraus, vocês têm a vista da rua
e das pessoas ao redor,
02:00
you have a view of the street
and all the people around you,
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02:03
and your walk is slow and steady
because the tread is so wide.
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e seu andar é devagar e constante
porque os degraus são largos.
02:07
That's a totally different experience
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É uma experiência totalmente diferente
02:10
than going down the narrow staircase
to, say, an old pub,
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daquela de descer uma escada estreita,
como a de um pub,
02:13
where you spill into the room.
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onde você escorrega para baixo.
02:14
There, you encounter tall risers,
so you move more quickly.
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Encontra ali degraus altos
então anda mais rápido.
02:18
Stairs add enormous drama.
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Escadas criam uma dramaticidade enorme.
02:20
Think about how stairs
signaled a grand entrance
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Pense em como escadas
sinalizam uma entrada grandiosa
02:23
and were the star of that moment.
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e são a estrela daquele momento.
02:25
Stairs can even be heroic.
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Elas podem ser heroicas.
02:27
The staircase that remained standing
after September 11th
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A escada que continuou de pé
depois do 11 de setembro,
02:30
and the attack on the World Trade Center
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no ataque do World Trade Center,
02:32
was dubbed the "Survivors' Staircase,"
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foi apelidada "Escada Sobrevivente",
02:34
because it played such a central role
in leading hundreds of people to safety.
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pelo seu papel central em levar
centenas de pessoas ao lugar seguro.
Escadas pequenas podem ter
um grande impacto também.
02:39
But small stairs
can have a huge impact, too.
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02:41
The stoop is a place
that invites neighbors to gather,
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O alpendre é um espaço
que convida vizinhos a reunirem-se,
02:44
blast music, and watch the city in motion.
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tocar música, ver o movimento da cidade.
02:48
It's fascinating to me that you see people
wanting to hang out on the stairs.
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É fascinante para mim ver pessoas
querendo se reunir nas escadas.
02:51
I think they fill
a deeply human need we have
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Penso que preenchem uma necessidade
profundamente humana que temos
02:56
to inhabit a space
more than just on the ground plane.
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de habitar um espaço
que vai além do plano térreo.
03:00
And so if you're able to sit
halfway up there,
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Se você pode se sentar no meio do caminho,
você está num tipo de lugar mágico.
03:05
you're in a kind of magical place.
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Translated by Denise Pelusch
Reviewed by Maricene Crus

▲Back to top

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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