BST12781

BUILDING COMMUNICATION

material for stairs

Drawing stairs & staircase

PAULI Sabine
spauli@cityu.edu.hk

Stone
concrete
Timber
Steel
glass

Notes prepared by
Atul KANSARA, Sabine PAULI, Kevin YAP Kwok-keung

Building Communication 2013 drawing stairs and staircase

Building Communication 2013 drawing stairs and staircase

Source: Weidinger (2010) Stairways. Page 157

terms

terms
Balustrade
Handrail (on walls)

tread

riser

landing

Source:Mehta,Scarborough,Armpriest.Buildingconstruction.
Principles,materialsandsystems.2008page882
Building Communication 2013 drawing stairs and staircase

Building Communication 2013 drawing stairs and staircase

Source: Weidinger (2010) Stairways. Page 151

Types of stairs

Types of stairs
Scissor staircase

Straight
singleflight
singlearms
stair

singleflight
stairs
With180
degreeturn

singleflight
stairs
turnedat
thetop

singleflight
stairs
turnedat
thebottom

Blanc.
Stairs,
stepsand
ramps.1996

Straightsingleflight,
twoarmedstairwith
turnlanding

singleflight,circularstair
withhollowspindle
Straight
singleflight,
twoarmed
stairwith
linelanding

Straight
singleflight,
threearmed
stairwith
cornerlandings

Mokashi.Scissorstairs:Origins,developmentandcontemporay use.
Quartely andUrbanDevelopmentJournal3rd Quarter2008page23

singleflightspindlestair

Building Communication 2013 drawing stairs and staircase

Building Communication 2013 drawing stairs and staircase

BuildingregulationinHongKong

construction of stairs

Clearheightofstaircasemin.2.00m
Clearwidthofstair/flightmin.1050mm
Landingnotbelessthanthewidthofthestaircase
Treadsnotlessthan225mm,better280mm
Risernotmorethan175mm
Max.16stepsinoneflight
Handrailforstairbetween850and950mm

Neufert,Ernst;Neufert,Peter.ArchitectsData.3rd edition2000page191

Building Communication 2013 drawing stairs and staircase

calculation of stairs

Building Communication 2013 drawing stairs and staircase

calculation of stairs
Stair layout and stair plan
Source:Habermann.Staircases:designandconstruction2003page42

First determine the floor-to-floor height

Calculate the numbers of risers and treads
The riser height should be not more than 175 mm

number of risers = floor-to-top height/ riser height

Number of risers = 4,200mm / 175 mm = 24 riser

Building regulation only 16 steps one flight
Divided by 2 = 12 riser/steps

Re-calculation Height of steps

Floor-to-floor-height = 4,200mm / 24 riser = 175mm

Calculation of tread

each flight (12-1) x 280mm length = 3,080 one length

+ landings each min 1,050mm
Full length of one flight 5,180mmm for staircase

630mm=2xstepheight/riser+1xstepwidth/tread
FrancoisBlondel 1683
Building Communication 2013 drawing stairs and staircase

Howtodrawstairsand
staircases?

drawing

630 mm = 2 x step height/riser + 1 x step width/tread

Tread = 630mm 2 x 175mm/riser/step height = 280mm

Building Communication 2013 drawing stairs and staircase

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Banister and handrails

exampleinternationalstyle
Source:Kilmer.Constructiondrawingsanddetailsforinteriors.
Basicskills.2009page163

difference between
Handrails
and
balustrade/banister/guardrail

Groundfloorintermediatefloortopfloor
exampleHongKongstyle

Source:Bielefeld,Skiba technicaldrawing.page44
Building Communication 2013 drawing stairs and staircase

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Building Communication 2013 drawing stairs and staircase

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ramps

Banister and handrails

Source:Chueca.Staircases:
selectionanddetails2008page221

Howtodrawramps?

Source:Bielefeld,Skiba technicaldrawing.page44
Building Communication 2013 drawing stairs and staircase

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Exercise stair drawing

Intermediate floor
Stair with half landing
and 2 risers at the landing

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Building Communication 2013 drawing stairs and staircase

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Building Communication 2013 drawing stairs and staircase

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stair drawing

please sketch and fill in the gaps /

information/with symbolic for different floors
staircase width min.1050mm
tread, riser, landing width and length
2 m headroom
Floor to floor height
handrail , banister

Ground Floor drawing

Single Flight
Max 16 risers

Building Communication 2013 drawing stairs and staircase

Roof plan
Stair with Intermediate
landing

Building Communication 2013 drawing stairs and staircase

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stair drawing

stair drawing

Building Communication 2013 drawing stairs and staircase

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stair drawing

details

Jefferis, Madsen. Architectural drafting and design. 1995 page 102

Building Communication 2013 drawing stairs and staircase

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Rich,Dean.Principlesofelementdesign
1999page145

details

Building Communication 2013 drawing stairs and staircase

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Building Communication 2013 drawing stairs and staircase

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details

Blanc.Stairs,stepsandramps.1996page143
Building Communication 2013 drawing stairs and staircase

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This handout was developed exclusively for educational purposes and was prepared to accompany Communication Studies 1
workshops at the City University of Hong Kong. It contains illustrations and text excerpts out of other official publications which have
been named in the bibliography. Original copyright reserved.

Exercise stair drawing

1. Calculateastaircasewithfloorto
floorheightfrom4200mm
2. Thestaircaseshouldhavethree
floors.
3. Sketchthestaircaseinfloorplan
andsectioninscale1:50/1:100
4. Addallannotationlikedimensions,
andidentifytheelements:flight,
landing,floortofloorheight,
clearanceheight,stairwidth,width
ofthelanding,tread,riser,handrail
5. Sketchgroundfloorplan,firstfloor
planandroofplanfromyour
staircasewiththespecialliningfor
eachfloor.

bibliography

topfloor
intermediate
floor

groundfloor

keyfloorplan
floorplan
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Blanc,Alan(1996)Stairs,stepsandramps.Oxford1996
Bielefeld,Bert;Skiba,Isabella(2007)Technicaldrawing.Basel:Birkhaeuser
Chueca,Pilar(2008)Staircases:selectionanddetails.Barcelona
Fullerton,RichardL.(1968)Buildingconstructioninwarmclimates.2nd editionOxford:Oxford
UniversityPress
Habermann,KarlJ.(2003)Staircases:designandconstruction.Basel
Jefferis,Alan;Madsen,David(1995)Architecturaldraftinganddesign.NewYork
Jiricna,Eva(2001)StaircasesLondon
Kilmer,W.Otie;Kilmer,Rosemary(2009)Constructiondrawingsanddestailsforinteriors.Basicskills.
Hoboken
Mehta,Madan;Scarborough,Walter;Armpriest,Diane(2008)Buildingconstruction.Principles,
materialsandsystems.NewJersey
Mokashi,Samir(2008)Scissorstairs:Origins,developmentandcontemporayuse.Quartelyand
UrbanDevelopmentJournal3rd Quarter
Neufert,Ernst;Neufert,Peter(2000)ArchitectsData.Thirdedition.Oxford
Rich,Peter;Dean,Yvonne(1999)Principlesofelementdesign.Oxford
Weidinger,Hans(2010)Stairways.Atglen:SchifferPublishing

Building Communication 2013 drawing stairs and staircase

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