

Changes In Stair Design Could Help Fight Obesity - newacc
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/152734.php

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buugs
> make stairs more comfortable and inviting for example, making staircases
> wider with less height per step and adding music

Everyone I know takes stairs 2 steps at a time decreasing the height would
just add unnecessary expansions and make the stairs a very slow (already
pretty slow if you are going up more than a few floors).

From my experience staircases that are a part of the building as much as an
elevator where you don't have to open a door to get to them get used quite
often.

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gibsonf1
Yikes, yet another set of regulations for stairs! There are already soo many,
and the idea of mandating reduced riser height in the stair has serious
implications for many buildings with confined areas as this means more treads
will be required and thus more overall area taken out of the building for
stairs. I am, however, a big fan of using stairs, but the reality of the fire
codes and the function of the code necessitates fire rated walls and doors.
Making the interior of the stair nicer would be great (owner would have to pay
extra) and locating the stair more conveniently is also good - but codes do
have impact on that decision as well as fire stairs have to exit the building
directly at the base, etc.

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gchpaco
That's not quite what I was expecting--widening stairs and lowering the slope
would actually improve safety, as well. I've seen enough against-code stairs
that were a positive hazard to everybody involved to get automatically antsy
whenever I see somebody suggesting changing them, but this is fine from a
safety POV.

It's in accordance with my experience at uni, too; everywhere that had obvious
stairs would have people using them in preference to elevators, but if they're
both behind doors (and the extremely industrial staircases you get in some
institutional buildings don't help this) it seems like the mental effort is
the same, so people wait for the elevator.

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dcurtis
I see the point of the article, but it's sort of like saying that if you only
sell bland tasting food at the supermarket, you'll make people stop eating as
much. And they'll be healthier! Sacrificing the accessibility/ease of use of a
building to "fight obesity" seems interesting but not a sacrifice I'd be
willing to make if I were an architect.

Forcing people to take the stairs by making "legislative" and architectural
changes is not the solution to the problem. The solution is to help people
change their habits.

~~~
DLWormwood
Thing is, this recent HN article...

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=642677>

...is actually tangentially relevant here, if you think about it.

The article _this_ comment is attached to isn't really about "forcing" people
to take the stairs, but to make using the stairs a more natural or obvious
option to people. In too many tall buildings, the combination of architectural
traditions and building codes lead to stairs being "out of sight, out of
mind."

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dpifke
The idea of forcing people to take the stairs to fight obesity is currently a
running experiment at the new San Francisco Federal Building.

Results are mixed, see i.e.
<http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=5428>

From the article:

 _According to my source, architect Mayne has stated that federal office
workers do not get enough exercise. To address this, he installed elevators in
the building that only stop at every third floor. This requires employees to
walk up or down one or two flights of metal stairs._

 _Persons with physical disabilities who cannot use stairs can use a separate
elevator that stops at every floor. The foreseeable result is that employees
seeking to avoid stairs use the disabled access elevator, leaving this car
crammed with people and making the ride to the top extremely slow._

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skushch
"Some simple interventions can do much toward encouraging people to take the
stairs, research suggests. For example, a study performed at a Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention building found that playing music in stairwells
and displaying motivational signs significantly increased the use of stairs."

Stairwell music?

~~~
thetrumanshow
Sure, why not? After going up 14 flights of stairs I'm already breathing hard,
which can be embarassing when there are others around. I'd prefer music to
silence where everyone can hear you plodding and gasping.

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russell
Air conditioning would be nice. A stairwell in the sun can easily get over 100
degrees. Alternatively some insulation and natural airflow could probably
achieve acceptable results.

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iz220
Making stairwells more pleasant would be nice, but any stairways with too many
additional features such as natural lighting would have to be constructed in
addition to the fireproof stairs required by building codes, so I imagine that
builders will continue to follow the path of least resistance and only provide
unpleasant stairways.

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weld
Oh please. If you can't walk a little further and find the stairs and open a
door you aren't going to climb 3 or for 4 flights. The lazy are lazy for a
reason.

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dan_the_welder
I think there are also Fire Code issues with stairwells. They can act as giant
chimneys that create a draft which will accelerate a fire and spread it
rapidly.

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TheSOB88
I'm here to announce my skepticism that the less than three round-trip
circuits people take daily on a flight of stairs will have anything but
negligible impact on their health.

~~~
chrisbolt
It also probably won't make a difference for people who work on the 10th
floor...

