A stairwell or stair room is a room in a

building A building or edifice is an enclosed Structure#Load-bearing, structure with a roof, walls and window, windows, usually standing permanently in one place, such as a house or factory. Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, a ...

where a stair is located, and is used to connect walkways between

floors A floor is the bottom surface of a room or vehicle. Floors vary from simple dirt in a cave to many layered surfaces made with modern technology. Floors may be stone, wood, bamboo, metal or any other material that can support the expected load ...

so that one can move in height. Collectively, a set of stairs and a stairwell is referred to as a staircase or stairway. In buildings with several housing units, a stairway can be a necessary

common area A common area is, in real estate or real property law, the "area which is available for use by more than one person..." The common areas are those that are available for common use by all tenants, (or) groups of tenants and their invitees.

for getting to and from

apartment An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement (Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that ...

s. Staircases provide vertical access to connected floors in a multi-story building, and are a functional part of it. Stairwells are often used to place several staircases vertically, one above the other. The entrance to

elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...

s is often located in the stairwell. Sometimes the stairwell goes around the lift shaft, other times it is placed next to it. A ''landing'' platform area is generally provided at both ends of a staircase, rather than having a long series of steps that directly leads to a doorway without a flat area between the steps and the door. Minimum requirements for landing platforms are typically established in building safety codes. The length of a landing platform is generally at least equal to the width of the stairway. If the number of steps is small, a landing area may not be required, but a door would ordinarily not open in the direction that causes it to swing out over a stairway. An ''exterior stairway'' is a stair in a separate structure attached to the rest of the building body, and can either be enclosed or exposed to the elements. Such temporary exposed stairways are sometimes used in conjunction with

scaffolding Scaffolding, also called scaffold or staging, is a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in the construction, maintenance and repair of buildings, bridges and all other human-made structures. Scaffolds are widely u ...

on construction sites, or permanently as an emergency exit.

History

The concept of stairs is believed to be 8000 years old, and are one of the oldest buildings in architectural history. The oldest example of spiral stairs dates back to the 400s BC.

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

architecture saw experimentation with many different shapes, and the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

even more so with varied designs.

Lighting

Good lighting is important in a staircase so users see where they are going and to prevent falls. There is often a

window A window is an opening in a wall, door, roof, or vehicle that allows the exchange of light and may also allow the passage of sound and sometimes air. Modern windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent ma ...

on the wall to let in

daylight Daylight is the combination of all direct and indirect sunlight during the daytime. This includes direct sunlight, diffuse sky radiation, and (often) both of these reflected by Earth and terrestrial objects, like landforms and buildings. Sunlig ...

. In many cases, indoor stairs are placed far inside the building structure, and it is often not easy to get access to a wall on the outside where it would be natural to have a regular window for letting daylight in. For this reason, it is not unusual to find a

skylight A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes. History O ...

roof window A roof window is an outward opening window that is incorporated as part of the design of a roof A roof (: roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls o ...

s above a stairwell. A research article suggests that perceived safety increases when using downwards lighting towards the stairs, while upwards lighting resulted in a substantial decrease of perceived safety.

Handrail

In new stairways, some jurisdictions require

handrail A handrail is a rail that is designed to be grasped by the hand so as to provide safety or support. In Great Britain, Britain, handrails are referred to as banisters. Handrails are commonly used while ascending or descending stairways and escala ...

s to be mounted on both sides. Others may require a handrail only on a side that does not run along a wall.

Emergency exit

Often the stairs in a stairwell are an emergency exit in case of fire, and the stairwell should then be a separate fire compartment separated from the rest of the building via

fire door A fire door is a door with a fire-resistance rating (sometimes referred to as a ''fire protection rating'' for closures) used as part of a passive fire protection system to reduce the spread of fire and smoke between separate compartments of ...

s. For fire safety it can be advantageous that both the walls, ceiling and the stairs themselves in a stairwell are made of non-combustible materials, and be illuminated with daylight during the day and artificial lighting at darkness. Storage of objects in shared stairwells is generally prohibited due to the fact that this is often an escape route. This applies to both flammable objects and other objects that may become an obstacle to the rescue work. Many

housing cooperative A housing cooperative, or housing co-op, is a legal entity which owns real estate consisting of one or more residential buildings. The entity is usually a cooperative or a corporation and constitutes a form of housing tenure. Typically hou ...

s have general prohibitions against storage in common stairwells.

Utilization

Under stairs there is often a lot of area and volume that is not otherwise used. There are several examples of creative uses, such as

wardrobe A wardrobe, also called armoire or almirah, is a standing closet used for storing clothes. The earliest wardrobe was a chest, and it was not until some degree of luxury was attained in regal palaces and the castles of powerful nobles that sep ...

s, home offices, playrooms, or general storage such as drawers, cupboards or shelves. Duplex_stair_design.jpg, Closet under a staircase Harry_Potter‘s_room_under_the_staircase,_Warner_Bros_Harry_Potter_Studios_02.jpg, Model of the cupboard under the staircase where the character

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

grew up

References