158

Open Stairs

Opening context:
Rooms to Rent, Teenager’s Cottage, Home Workshop, Self-Governing Workshops and Offices, Pedestrian Street

Conflict

Internal staircases reduce the connection between upper stories and the life of the street to such an extent that they can do enormous social damage.

Resolution

Do away, as far as possible, with internal staircases in institutions. Connect all autonomous households, public services, and workgroups on the upper floors of buildings directly to the ground. Do this by creating open stairs which are approached directly from the street. Keep the stair roofed or unroofed according to the climate, but at all events leave the stair open at ground level, without a door, so that the stair is functionally a continuation of the street. And build no upstairs corridors. Instead, make open landings or an open arcade where upstairs units share a single stair.

Closing context:
Family of Entrances, Roof Garden, Sunny Place, Staircase Volume