Stair-Scapes™ are public and/or private functional art climbing structures, designed to encourage people to gather together in a positive way to exercise. Most consist of a modular system of components that usually incorporate staircases, landings, and/or ramps. The structures vary widely in size and shape and are usually designed to fit a specific site. Stair-Scapes™ can be made of many different types of materials including steel, concrete, and wood. In every case, the structures are designed to be exciting, eco-friendly attractions for the communities in which they are built.
Stair-Scape™ structures can be located in many different kinds of places such as, public parks, schools, corporate campuses, resorts, and apartment complexes. They can also be installed inside of an existing building like an airport or a train station, and/or on a rooftop. They can be designed to be permanent or temporary structures.
Stair-Scapes™ were not only created to provide a new kind of public and/or private place that promotes physical fitness and helps to fight the obesity epidemic, they were also designed to become a fun place to just hang out and relax. Additional exercise equipment as well as tables and seats, can be built into the structures to provide places to eat, drink, relax, converse, and or access the Internet through a wireless connection.
Public Stair-Scapes™ can become exciting community gathering places where various special events like stair climbing competitions are held. They can be used by local schools for student athletic training. Special interactive sensors can be added to the step treads that are used to facilitate a wide range of real time feedback information used to make the climbing experience more enjoyable and exciting. As an example; as people climb the stairs, sounds are produced with each step, creating a kind of Stair-Scape music. Virtual reality telepresence races monitored on Smart Phones could be run on the Stair-Scapes™ with people at a different location climbing on a different Stair-Scape™.Special Stair-Scape™ Smart Phone applications could be developed to facilitate many other interactivities. Other off the shelf hand held electronic devices could be used to up-grade the Stair-Scape™ experience by providing real time feedback about the number of steps climbed, calories burned, etc.
In some cases solar panels, wind turbines, and/or other alternative energy gathering systems can be added to the Stair-Scapes™ in order to provide power for night lighting, and/or for charging computers, Smart Phones, etc. The excess energy gathered from the sun and from the wind, could be sent back into the local energy grid. It is also possible to install special stair treads that generate electricity with piezoelectric technology, each time pressure is applied to the tread. In this case, Stair-Scape™ climbers could be given an energy credit from the local utility on their own home power bill based on how many stairs they climb throughout the year.