The hidden ways stairs shape your life

Stairs don't just get you from point A to point B. Architect David Rockwell explains how they shape your movement -- and your feelings.

I think stairs may be

one of the most emotionally
malleable physical elements

that an architect has to work with.

[Small thing. Big idea.]

[David Rockwell on
the Stairs]

At its most basic, a stair is a way
to get from point A to point B

at different elevations.

Stairs have a common language.

Treads, which is the thing
that you walk on.

Riser, which is the vertical element
that separates the two treads.

A lot of stairs have nosings
that create a kind of edge.

And then, the connected piece
is a stringer.

Those pieces, in different forms,
make up all stairs.

I assume stairs came to be
from the first time someone said,

"I want to get to this higher rock
from the lower rock."

People climbed
using whatever was available:

stepped logs, ladders

and natural pathways
that were worn over time.

Some of the earliest staircases,
like the pyramids in Chichén Itzá

or the roads to Mount Tai in China,

were a means of getting
to a higher elevation,

which people sought
for worship or for protection.

As engineering has evolved,
so has what's practical.

Stairs can be made
from all kinds of material.

There are linear stairs,
there are spiraled stairs.

Stairs can be indoors,
they can be outdoors.

They clearly help us in an emergency.

But they're also a form of art
in and of themselves.

As we move across a stairway,

the form dictates our pacing,
our feeling, our safety

and our relationship and engagement
with the space around us.

So for a second, think about stepping down
a gradual, monumental staircase

like the one in front
of the New York Public Library.

From those steps,

you have a view of the street
and all the people around you,

and your walk is slow and steady
because the tread is so wide.

That's a totally different experience

than going down the narrow staircase
to, say, an old pub,

where you spill into the room.

There, you encounter tall risers,
so you move more quickly.

Stairs add enormous drama.

Think about how stairs
signaled a grand entrance

and were the star of that moment.

Stairs can even be heroic.

The staircase that remained standing
after September 11th

and the attack on the World Trade Center

was dubbed the "Survivors' Staircase,"

because it played such a central role
in leading hundreds of people to safety.

But small stairs
can have a huge impact, too.

The stoop is a place
that invites neighbors to gather,

blast music, and watch the city in motion.

It's fascinating to me that you see people
wanting to hang out on the stairs.

I think they fill
a deeply human need we have

to inhabit a space
more than just on the ground plane.

And so if you're able to sit
halfway up there,

you're in a kind of magical place.