The Interval Between Floors

A staircase gives a journey a duration. Moving upstairs takes effort, brings the hand into contact with a rail and changes what can be seen along the way. Its landings and turns can divide the ascent into stages. The route becomes part of the experience of the rooms it connects.

A window at a landing can make that intermediate position useful, providing a view and somewhere to pause. A clear sightline towards the destination can make the next movement understandable. These decisions are experienced one step at a time, which is why a staircase deserves to be examined from the position of the person climbing it as well as from the hall below. For someone who finds stairs demanding, the opportunity to stop may be the most valuable part of the sequence.

Research on event perception examines how people divide continuous experience into episodes. Changes in setting and activity help mark those divisions. A stair brings several such changes together, suggesting a reason to pay attention to the interval between floors. The architectural case begins with the journey itself: a usable rail, a route that can be understood and a destination approached with enough room to arrive. The section drawing can show all three.