Curved Interior Guardrail with a Shaped Continuous Handrail

Project Overview

An interior guardrail run in steel, following a curved opening through a landing in a house still under construction. Round vertical bars at close, even spacing carry a shaped continuous handrail that runs through the curve without a joint at the transition, and returns with a scroll where the run terminates against the wall.

The finish is a dark painted coating, chosen so the assembly reads as a single dark line against pale wall panelling and light oak flooring rather than as a series of separate parts.

What We Built

• A curved guardrail run wrapping the stair and landing opening
• Round vertical balusters at consistent spacing, set into the shaped top handrail and a base rail
• A continuous shaped handrail carried through the radius rather than segmented
• A scrolled handrail return at the wall termination
• Straight guardrail sections continuing the same profile along the adjoining runs

The Challenge

Curves are where guardrails go wrong. A straight run forgives small errors because the eye has nothing to compare against; a curve does not. If the baluster spacing drifts even slightly around a radius, the gaps read as uneven from every angle in the room, and if the handrail is fabricated as short segments and bent to suit, the joints show as flat spots in what should be a continuous sweep.

The handrail was worked as one continuous shaped section through the curve, and the balusters set out from the finished radius rather than from the drawing, so the spacing stays even where it is actually seen.

Installation

Installed into an interior that was still an active construction site, with floors and finishes protected and the run braced and levelled section by section before final fixing. Working at that stage means the guardrail has to be set to the finished floor level rather than the level that exists on the day, and it has to come apart and go back together without marking finished surfaces around it.

Project Gallery

Interior guardrails and shaped handrails are covered on our interior railings and handrails page.