Vail Valley Home Magazine
Staircases
About this article
Vail Valley Home, September 2026 · Written by Kimberly Nicoletti
Vail Valley Home looks at how staircases shape the experience of a mountain home, with insight from Brian Sipes, principal at Sipes Architects in Minturn, and other Vail Valley designers. Sipes describes a staircase as being about movement and arrival, explains how relocating or reconfiguring a stair can open up a fragmented floorplan, clarify circulation and capture views, and notes that on hillside homes the stair can make or break a view. The article features a Sipes Architects mountainside home where a wide dog-leg stair leads from the entry to a main living level overlooking Lake Creek.
“If you’re really wanting to reimagine a home, don’t think the stair is permanent.”
— Brian Sipes
Published in Vail Valley Home. The full article appears below.
Staircases: an often-overlooked opportunity
