ABSTRACT
As an architectural focal point, stairs are often an elegant feature within buildings. At the same time, steps and stairs are highly functional, providing quick, efficient, and permanent means of access between levels. Stairs vary in size in both their overall scale and in dimensions such as the rise and going (i.e., tread depth) of individual steps (Figure 3.1). Stairs vary in shape, with straight, spiral, doglegged, alternating, and geometric designs among those found. Stairs vary in the materials from which they are constructed, concrete, wood, metals, stone, and even glass, for example. They vary in location, and thus function, such as those between storeys in a home, stairs in an office, stairs in a sports stadium or other public building, steps down into a swimming pool, or the assortment of steps and stairs found in an outdoor urban landscape. Entire books (e.g., Templer 1992) have been written to try to describe this variety and the ways in which people use the range of stairs and steps encountered in everyday life. This chapter discusses the design of stairs, focussing on those aspects of most importance for falls and their prevention.
