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Changes In Stair Design Could Help Fight Obesity

10 points by newacc 17y ago

TheSOB88 17y ago
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 17y ago
  It also probably won't make a difference for people who work on the 10th floor...
dcurtis 17y ago
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 17y ago
  Thing is, this recent HN article... http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=642677 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."
russell 17y ago
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.
gchpaco 17y ago
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.
skushch 17y ago
"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 17y ago
  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.
gibsonf1 17y ago
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.
buugs 17y ago
> 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.
dpifke 17y ago
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 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.
dan_the_welder 17y ago
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.
iz220 17y ago
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.
weld 17y ago
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.

10 points by newacc 17y ago

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 17y ago
It also probably won't make a difference for people who work on the 10th floor...

dcurtis 17y ago

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 17y ago
Thing is, this recent HN article... http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=642677 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."

russell 17y ago

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.

gchpaco 17y ago

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.

skushch 17y ago

"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 17y ago
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.

gibsonf1 17y ago

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.

buugs 17y ago

> 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.

dpifke 17y ago

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 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.

dan_the_welder 17y ago

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.

iz220 17y ago

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.

weld 17y ago

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.