STAIRCASES

Relativity, 1953, M.C.

ESCHER

Symbolic Meaning of
Staircase

Angkor Wat Steps,

Cambodia

Reflecting Architectural
Movement

Paris Opera House by Charles Garnier, Beaux Arts

Architecture Movement

Staircase as a
Lifestyle

Glass Spiral Staircase at Apple

Store , Boston

Form

Feature Staircase at Lobby, New Majestic

Hotel, Singapore

Material

Feature Staircase, Longchamp Retail Store

in New York City

Detailing

Hanging Staircase, Apple Store,

Beijing

Universal
Design

design for all people.

handrails or guides to assist

landings to break a fall and provide a

place for rest

sufficient headroom to avoid

injury

barriers against falling from 1.0 m or more from an

open side

STAIR TYPES

Straight flight: Not more than

18 rises without a change in
direction.

STAIR TYPES contd..

Quarter turn with

landing.

STAIR TYPES contd..

Half turn with landing. (dog

legged stair)

STAIR TYPES contd..

Quarter turn with kite winders

STAIR TYPES contd..

Half turn with winders

STAIR TYPES contd..

Open Well or Newel stair cases

II- FLIGHT
LANDING

I- FLIGHT

OPEN
WELL

III- FLIGHT

WITH INTERMEDIATE FLIGHT

OPEN
WELL

WITHOUT INTERMEDIATE FLIGHT

STAIR TYPES contd..

Circular and spiral

stairs

CLASSIFICATION
Based on type of span
Horizontally spanning or transversely
spanning staircase
Longitudinally spanning staircase.

1
Definition

STAIR AND ITS GEOMETRY

A stair is a convenient means of access between the floors

of a building.
It is constructed to provide ready, easy, comfortable and
safe ascent/descent with series of steps that are neither
laborious nor difficult to climb within an enclosure called
stairwell (staircase).
Stairs may be made from timber, bricks, stone, metal and
plain and reinforced cement concrete.
Finishing of marble, tiles, plaster, etc. are also provided.

Stair Terminology

Stair Terminology
1

1.Flight: Flight is an uninterrupted series of steps between

floors or between floor and landings, or between landing and
landing.
2. Landing: Flat platform at the head of a series of steps.
3. Stairwell: The space in which stair/landing are housed.
4. Tread: it is the upper surface of a step on which the foot is
placed during ascent/descends.
5. Riser: The vertical member between two successive
treads.

Stair Terminology contd..

6. Steps: The steps of a stair are made from a series of

horizontal treads with risers in between.
7. Rise: It is the distance measured vertically from the surface
of one tread to the surface of other.
8. Going: distance measured horizontally from the face of one
riser to the face of the next riser.
9. Nosing: The exposed edge of a tread, usually projecting
with a square, rounded or splayed edge. An imaginary line
connecting all the nosing points parallel to the slope of stair is
called line of nosing.

Stair Terminology contd..

10. Handrail: rail of metal/wood on the side of a stair fixed at

about waist high parallel to the slope of stair..
11. Newel: A post forming the junction of flights of stair. They
are at the top/bottom of a stair to support handrails.
12. Stringers: Inclined member in wooden stairs acting as
wooden beams to support the steps.
13. Baluster: Vertical member to support the handrail and
placed between steps and handrails.

Stair Terminology contd..

14. Pitch: the inclination of stair can be defined as either by

the rise and going of the steps or as a pitch of a stair, which
is the angle of stair with the horizontal. The dimensions of the
rise/going of steps determine whether stair is steep
(practically impossible to climb) or shallow (too
laborious/exhausting to climb).
15. Headroom/Clearance: It is the clear vertical distance
between the tread of the step and soffit of the stair above.
For people and for moving goods / furniture, the minimum
head room of 2.1m (measured vertically) is recommended
between line of nosing/soffit of stair, with minimum clearance
of 1.5m measured at right angle to the nosing line.
16. Winder: Radiating steps for changing direction of a stair.

Detailing of Staircase
Contents

Definition and parts of Stair cases

Types of stair cases
Requirements
Problems
Art of Drawing

STAIR CASE
Definition
Stair cases are used for the purpose of
giving access to different floors of a
structure.

Parts of stair a case

T
G
N

L2

L1

Le

R
W

FLIGHT

FIG.1 PARTS OF STAIR CASE

Fig. 2 DOG LEGGED STAIR CASE

Parts of stairs contd..

Flight and landing.

Steps
Rise-R
Going-G=T-N
Tread-T
Nosing -N

G
N
R
W

Types of stair cases

Based on shape

Straight stairs
Dog legged stairs
Open well or open newel stairs
Geometrical stairs such as spiral, circular, etc.
Free standing stair cases

Types of stair cases

Classification Based on type of span

Horizontally spanning or transversely

spanning staircase
Longitudinally spanning staircase.

Types of stair cases

OTHER STAIRCASES

SPIRAL AND
GEOMETRIC
STAIRCASES

RISER AND TREAD STAIRCASE

Requirements
Guide lines for fixing the dimensions
Rise (R)
Tread (T)

: 150mm to 180mm
: 220 mm to 250 mm- for residential buildings.

Rise (R)
Tread (T)

: 120 to 150 mm
: 250 mm to 300 mm for public buildings

[T + 2R]

: Between 500 mm to 650 mm

The width of the stair

0.8 m to 1 m for residential building and
1.8 m to 2 m for public building.

Requirements contd..

Guide lines for fixing the dimensions Contd

The width of the landing is equal to the width of stairs.
The number of steps in each flight should not be greater
than 12
The pitch of the stair should not be more than 38 degrees.
The head room measured vertically above any step or
below the mid landing shall not be less than 2.1 m.

Requirements contd..

Design of stairs
Design for maximum bending moment and check for
maximum shear force.
The depth is to be fixed from deflection criteria.
Stair case slab is designed as a conventional slab.
All rules regarding the detailing are similar to that of slab.
Enough development and anchorage lengths for steel
should be provided.

Requirements contd..
LANDING

WALL

Le

EFFECTIVE SPAN FOR

LONGITUDINALLY
SPANNING STAIRCASES

WAIST SLAB

Case (a)

WAIST SLAB SUPPORTED AT THE

ENDS OF LANDINGS

Requirements contd..
GOING=G

Le
Case (b)

EFFECTIVE SPAN FOR

LONGITUDINALLY
SPANNING STAIRCASES
Le=G +[ X +Y], X 1m AND Y 1m

Case (c)
Le

Le=c/c of beams

Problem
Exercise
A dog legged stair case is to be detailed with the
following particulars:
Clear dimension of stair case room=4.48 m x 2.1 m
The floor to floor height is 3.2 m
Width of each tread =250 mm
Height of each rise = 160 mm
Thickness of waist slab = 150 mm
Width of flight =1m
All round wall = 230 mm

Exercise contd.,
Both flights are supported at the ends of
landing on 230 mm wall.(Landing and flight spans in the
same direction)
The first flight starts from the plinth level
Draw to a suitable scale
The plan of stair case
Sectional elevation of the Ground flight
Sectional elevation of the First flight

Exercise contd.,
Solution
Dimensioning:
R=160 mm, T= 250 mm
Floor to floor height = 3200mm
No of rises = 3200/R = 20. Each flight has 10 rises.
No of treads per flight=10-1 =9
Width of landing along flight
= (4480-9x250)/2 = 1115mm.
Going of flight=9x250 =2250mm

Exercise
Plan of stair case
1115 mm

2250 mm

1115 mm

Gap=0.1m

Le = 4710 mm

PLAN
Clear dimension of stair case room=4.48 m x 2.1 m

2100

Thank You

Detailing principles
Transversally spanning stair case
MAIN STEEL

0.1Le0.15Le
STEPS

0.5 Ast
D1

STRINGER
BEAMS

STRINGER
BEAM

DIST. STEEL

Ast
Le

D2

STIRRUP

Detailing principles contd..

Longitudinally spanning staircase

Detailing
Steel at bottom longitudinally-tension
Anchorage and development steel
Distribution steel
Row of chairs
Nominal foundation for ground flight

Detailing
Ld =564

FLOOR LEVEL
ROW OF CHAIRS

T= 250
REINFORCEMENT
FROM BM

R=160

LANDING

LAP L

FIRST FLIGHT

Ld =564

Main steel [B]

MAIN STEEL
# 12 @ 120

Wall

[A]

DIST. STEEL
# 8 @ 200

[C]

150

GL
FOUNDATION

500 mm

GROUND FLIGHT
500 mm

Landing and flight spans longitudinally

[D,E]Anchorage
steel

Detailing contd..

Y=0.3 l or Ld
X = 0.15 l or Ld

Y
l
X

DS
Y

MAIN STEEL

150
LANDING
BEAM

LANDING
BEAM

FIRST FLIGHT

INTERMEDIATE
LANDING

ROW OF
CHAIRS

MAIN STEEL # 12 @ 120

DIST. STEEL
# 8 @ 150
150
GL
FOOTING

GROUND FLIGHT

500

150
500

Flight spans longitudinally on landing beams

Le PLAN

Detailing contd..

Details at the junction of flight and landing

T

Wrong

Concrete spalling
due to tension in
steel
Ld
Ld

ok

Extra steel if
needed

Detailing contd..

STRAIGHT STAIR CASE

Refer SP-34 and learn the details

Bar bending schedule

For exercise problem

No. of
Member Mark
bars

SC
GFl

Dia. Length
in
in
mm m/piece

Total
length
in m
#12

Bar details

Remarks

#8

12

measure

X1

8
spacings,
main bar

12

measure

X2

Main bar

Count

960

Y1

Dist. Bar
L=10002EC

Bar bending scheduleContd.,

StairGround
Floor

12

measure

X3

Anchorage
bars

12

measure

X4

Anchorage
bars

Total length in m/diameter

Weight in kg/m

--

--

Total weight in kg/diameter

---

---

Calculations are based on

actual measurement on
drawing sheet.

Estimation of quantity of concrete

Volume of concrete = L x B x D
L= length along the central line in m-measured
B=Breadth in m
D=Thickness of slab in m
Plus concrete in footing
Weight of concrete, kg = Volume x density

Conclusion
Students have learnt the following:
Types of staircases.
Effective span concept.
Requirements of staircase.
Detailing of steel.
Importance of development length and anchorages.
Drawing to scale and bar bending schedule.

Design of stairs
Design for maximum bending moment and check for
maximum shear force.
The depth is to be fixed from deflection criteria.
Stair case slab is designed as a conventional slab.
All rules regarding the detailing are similar to that of slab.
Enough development and anchorage lengths for steel
should be provided.

Drop newel
Drop newel

Kite winder
Kite winder

STAIR PARTS

Wall string
Wall string

Riser board
Riser board
nosing
nosing

Landing nosing
Landing nosing
Cut out for joist trimmer
Cut out for joist trimmer
Well string
Well string

Split landing
Split landing

Newel post
= Balustrade
Newel
post
Baluster
and handrail
Baluster and handrail

Tread
Tread

skirting
skirting

Landing bearer
Landing bearer
space landing
space landing

MORE STAIR PARTS

Glue blocks

wedges
Carriage piece

CUT AND BRACKETED STRINGS

BRACKETS
CUT STRING

CUT AND BRACKETED STRINGS

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

STRING
RISER
TREAD
BRACKET
SCOTIA
CORNER BLOCK
MITRE
MITRE
RETURN NOSING

Filling in below stairs

SOFFIT PANEL
OR LINING

SPANDREL PANEL OR LINING

Some photos
Straight SC

Dog legged SC

Geometric SC

Transversely
spanning SC