The case for single-stair multifamily

Post by closeparen » Thu, Jan 18, 2024, 7:17 PM UTC

Retric wrote: post #88

ksenzee wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The two-staircase requirement leads directly to apartment buildings being big, with long corridors. Given my choice of living in a small building with a few families, with one staircase, where people know each other (the one-stair architecture does in fact lend itself to residents knowing each other) or living in a big building, with long corridors, where people don’t get to know each other, I’d feel a lot safer as a…

A 2nd set of stairs split across multiple units is a trivial matter from a cost perspective. Height restrictions, adding more office space than housing, mandatory parking etc are the real issues. Tiny increases in construction costs get wiped out when there’s insufficient housing stock.

Post by Retric » Thu, Jan 18, 2024, 7:17 PM UTC

mjmahone17 wrote: post #139

Retric wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not in locations where there’s a housing shortage. Outside of skyscrapers building housing is cheap, it’s land and permission that’s the issue.

Double loaded corridors fundamentally change the composition of buildings. If you look at example floorplans, single staircase buildings typically feature 2-3 bedroom apartments, because giving every bedroom a window is easier, while double loaded corridors end up mostly with deep studios and 1-beds. Building new housing in the US is not cheap, and reducing the leasable or buyable square footage by 10% can move proje…

Post by drcongo » Thu, Jan 18, 2024, 7:18 PM UTC

adrian_b wrote: post #123

quickthrowman wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

American here. I can't even put to words my embafflement upon learning that 72 people died in the Grenfell Tower fire in Europe in 2017.

That had little to do with stairs, but it was caused by the use of inappropriate combustible materials, which were forbidden for buildings of that height in many countries of continental Europe, but they were allowed in Great Britain were regulations were much more lax. So that event is strictly specific to UK and not representative for Europe in general.

Post by drcongo » Thu, Jan 18, 2024, 7:21 PM UTC

manuelmoreale wrote: post #9

hk__2 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain this for the non-US audience?

I suspect they're referring to this type of buildings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-decker_(house)

Post by dumbo-octopus » Thu, Jan 18, 2024, 7:24 PM UTC

nicole_express wrote: post #21

I'd like to see more discussion of the safety impact; I know the article makes the point that fire deaths per capita are lower in Europe, which lacks the requirement, but it also notes that US housing stock is also much more wooden and therefore at higher risk to begin with. (Wood construction is generally a good thing from a sustainability perspective) Whenever I see this proposed my brain immediately goes to the Gr…