Platform on architecture, interior design and landscape architecture
Designing stairs and railings requires technical knowledge and experience. Draw2design supports this with a 3D drawing program in which stairs and railings in steel can be detailed. Of course with an eye for building, function, design, robustness, construction and safety requirements, production and assembly. With the recent acquisition of the TREPEDIA CAD software for stair and fence design, Draw2design adds a nice extra functionality.
Draw2design supports stair designers, stair suppliers and construction companies that lack the capacity in technical drawing work themselves. Both temporarily and structurally. The team of experienced engineers can deliver professional and appealing designs very quickly. From functional fire escapes to fencing, wind screens, balustrades, industrial landings and design staircases and always to the customer's specifications. In the Draw2design Academy, stair designers, stair suppliers and construction companies will also find extensive training and workshops to improve their HiCAD skills and expertise in stair design.
The contact with TREPEDIA also came about through the Draw2design Academy, explains Raymond van Amersfoort, founder of Draw2design and responsible for Marketing & Growth. “TREPEDIA is originally a German software program, developed by experienced staircase builder Norbert Schulze-Kahleyß. He joined our hands-on drawing training some time ago, where he also told us more about his program. We were so enthusiastic about this that we were the first customer in the Netherlands to download TREPEDIA. When he told us he was 67 years old, was considering quitting and was awake about his succession, the first conversations about the takeover came about.”
“TREPEDIA has more than seven hundred users in Germany, which Schulze-Kahleyß didn't want to simply disappoint,” says Van Amersfoort. “The opportunities of the software, combined with our growth ambition was a perfect opportunity to jump into this gap. In October 2025, we acquired TREPEDIA, assuring all existing customers of the continuity and continued development of the software.” Over the next two years, Norbert Schulze-Kahleyß will remain actively involved so that Draw2design will soon have all the relevant knowledge to further develop TREPEDIA. Beautiful new market opportunities also arise for Draw2design, where customers can also benefit from the unique combination of TREPEDIA and Draw2Design. “Meanwhile, the first licenses have been sold.”
“With Draw2design, we draw and design stairs and railings for more than a hundred companies in the Netherlands and Belgium,” says Van Amersfoort. “TREPEDIA simplifies this work considerably. For example, with regard to walkability.” When you design a staircase with a quarter, corner or 180° turn, you have to comply with the NEN 3509 standard. “TREPEDIA is designed in such a way that the correct walking line in accordance with NEN 3509 is automatically calculated. In the software, only the width and height of the stairs and the number of angles need to be entered. If you change these values, the consequences are immediately visible in the 3D design. It is also easy to switch between different stair stringers. That makes TREPEDIA a handy tool in our design process, but also a very pleasant (marketing) tool in the communication of staircase designers, staircase suppliers and construction companies with their customers. From TREPEDIA, STEP or IFC production files can also be automatically generated as required.”
“With TREPEDIA, we gained new insights about German standards. Moreover, we have gained nice new contacts,” says Van Amersfoort. “Especially in Germany, where stairs and railings are often still produced in the traditional way. Thanks to the program, we can design and construct different forms of stairs in a reasonably simple way.”
Where TREPEDIA puts down the basics (walkability) of the staircase, Draw2design adds the structural information. How should the stairs be fixed in the floor or to the floor? And what anchors, for example, are recommended? “By combining Draw2design and TREPEDIA, we can grow even wider,” says Van Amersfoort. “Not only in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, but also in Poland, Switzerland and Austria. Recently we even sold a license in Malta. In the future, we also want to gain a foothold in America. For this we will expand the metric system with a British-American size system. All with the goal of becoming a worldwide household name in designing stairs quickly and properly.”
