Moving through
Flight of steps
public space plaza public building riverfront university
A wide outdoor stairway that connects two levels of a city or gives access to an important building. Its steps also serve as seating.
What it solves
It overcomes a steep slope and at the same time creates a meeting place. In the tropics it needs shade from trees and good drainage so that downpours do not run down the steps.
Today
Combine low, deep steps with landings, plus a nearby ramp or elevator for those who cannot climb. On wide flights add intermediate handrails so there is support along the whole route.
Common mistake
Making it only monumental, without shade, handrails or an accessible alternative.
Tomorrow
With steps for sitting, trees and lighting at night, a grand stairway can work as a plaza in hillside cities. Its edges can carry channels and rain gardens that hold back the water of downpours.
Where it comes from
- 1Classic Maya Copán, Honduras, 710 and 755 AD
The Hieroglyphic Stairway, with 62 steps, bears the longest known Maya text. - 2Stepwells western India, since the 3rd and 4th centuries AD
Long stairways go down to the groundwater and secure it in the dry season. - 3Sacred city on the banks of the Ganges Varanasi, India, of diffuse origin, in use
Its 88 ghats are stairways that go down to the river for bathing, washing and performing rites. - 4Roman Baroque Rome, Italy, 1723 to 1725
The 135-step Spanish Steps connect two squares and are a meeting place.
Masters
- Alvar Aalto Säynätsalo Town Hall, Säynätsalo, Finland, 1952
He rises to the building’s courtyard with a stairway of grass steps that recalls a small amphitheater. He shows that steps can also be a place to sit and gather.
See also
Also in Moving through
Diagrams and texts by LDB Arquitectura. They are shared under the CC BY 4.0 license, which allows them to be used and adapted with credit to the source.