ملف:Spiral Staircase, Keck Center (U.S. National Academies) (Landscape View).jpg

English: The Keck Center of the National Academies in Washington, D.C., features a spiral staircase modeled after ribonucleic acid, or RNA. This molecule is generally smaller than the double-stranded DNA helix and has only one strand.

The Smith Group Inc. designed the staircase, which connects nine levels of the building. Later, the artist Larry Kirkland came up with the idea of placing metal cones with mirrors at the top and the bottom, a final touch that suggests the molecule continues in both directions.

The dramatic spiral staircase at the south end of the Atrium in the Keck Center functions not only as a means to move between floors but as a dramatic sculptural form in this interior space.

The stairway is made of stainless steel, mirror, glass, and reinforced concrete, which was formed and poured in place at each of the eight levels. It isn’t publicly accessible.