Stairs are a designed experience, use them…
Unless I am carrying something heavy or fragile, I always take the stairs. Call me old-school, I’ll take it, just don’t make me take the elevator. I really enjoy the formal entrance of the Rudolph Building with its wide stretch, low rise and deep run. It makes me appreciate the process of entering the building as it was intended and designed. Whereas, I find elevators cheapen the experience of a building and leave me feeling a bit jipped when I immediately arrive at my destination. I have spent hours designing stairs in my studio project, and interrogated various stair typologies - ie the ones that were meant as a means of egress verses the ones that exist only as a symbol and never actually used.
*(Yale Architecture Building by Paul Rudolph on the left, Nanjing Museum by Steven Holl on the right.)
Stairs are wonderful! They force you to understand where you are in a building, what each level means to the different users, and most importantly, allows you to interact on a normal and perfectly brief moment with others inhabiting the building as well. The elevator, however, forces you into an awkwardly silent, deathly state, where you’re constantly teeter-tottering on the idea of asking the person you’re in the elevator with how they are doing. Once you do, it’s always time to go - never allowing a conversation to blossom or end smoothly. The stair allows you to say hi, engage in conversation if desired, or smile at the very least. And, a well-designed stair, like the Yale Architecture building, provides landings at every turnaround, making it easy for one to step to the side to talk or simply “rest” quietly and look out the openings on to York Street. These human interactions are at the core of what architecture is able to achieve, and are important to consider when designing.
I say to hell with the elevator, move your ass, and take the stairs… it just may get a little firmer! Who knows!?!
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