The Safety Case For Single-Stair Buildings
In the US and across the world, six-story single-stair buildings have a great safety record.
The Three Major Safety Advantages of Single-Stair Buildings
Single-stair buildings’ small footprint is an enormous safety advantage over the larger double-loaded buildings. Here are the three main reasons why.
Easier To Get Out Of
With no long hallways, residents can exit single-stair buildings much more quickly.
With their small footprint, single-stair buildings are easier to get out of - and there’s not much chance of getting lost. In the long hallways of double-loaded corridor buildings, the story is very different.
Common max. distance from apartment to stairs
Double-Loaded Building
250 feet
Single-Stair Building
20 feet
See how long it takes to get out of both types of building.
(Guess which one wins!)
Single-Stair Building
Double-Loaded Building
Note: Video & timers runs at double-speed.
2. Fewer Residents to Evacuate
Single-stair buildings have fewer households per stairway.
Because each floor in a single-stair building is so small, there are fewer residents to evacuate in an emergency. This means fewer people clogging up the stairs to get out of the building and fewer people to get in the way of emergency responders.
Common # of households per stairway in 6-story building
Double-Loaded Building
100+
Single-Stair Building
20
“Having to knock on so many doors to get people out is a big challenge in large apartment buildings.”
- Austin firefighter
3. Better Ventilation Inside Apartments
More windows means better ventilation in a fire.
Single-stair building’ small sizes allows apartments to have windows on multiple sides, allowing for ventilation in a fire. In contrast, double-loaded apartments typically only have windows on one side.
Single-stair building apartment: Windows on multiple sides allow for ventilation.
Double-loaded building apartment: Windows on one side only, poor ventilation.
Sprinklers: Much Better For Safety Than Second Staircases
Despite double-loaded buildings being so common in the US, there’s little evidence of their safety benefits. On the other hand, sprinklers have been proven to work.
Since sprinklers were mandated in cities like Austin, safety in apartment buildings has skyrocketed. Nowadays, few fires ever spread beyond their room of origin (usually kitchens and bathrooms). Sprinklers combined with additional safety measures such as fire-rated doors and pressurized stairways, which we’ll discuss shortly, mean that the chances of fire spreading today are incredibly low.
Sprinklers prevent fire spreading 98% of the time.
It’s Clear: Single-Stair Buildings Have Major Safety & Quality of Life Advantages Over Double-Loaded Buildings.
Here’s how we intend to bring six-story single-stair buildings to Austin, packed with extra safety measures!