Stairs that borrow light

A stair is a machine for moving people — and, if you let it, a machine for moving daylight. We opened a light well above a perforated steel flight in Campo de Ourique so winter sun reaches the kitchen two floors down. The steel was left unfinished; the oak handrail is the only warm surface you touch. Pair it with a small balcony solar kit and the house asks less of the grid on short December days.