Is it bad to have each apartment have their own set of stairs? This way each apartment will be like small row houses, arranged in a vertical neighborhood. This will also allow both my individual living spaces and bedrooms to receive lighting when they are arranged on a longitudinal array along the edge of my building.
This would of course only work for the non-barrier-free units.
Hey Ariel,
ReplyDeleteThe residential building that I chose for the Ideas assignment actually used a similar approach to what you're proposing. The building has no horizontal corridors and all the circulation occurs via vertical cores (stairs + elevator) with each core serving two units per floor. It's a very interesting concept but you'd have to talk to Vince or do some more research about how and if it would work under our code as this example is in Spain.
Anyways here's the link, hopefully it helps!
http://www.archdaily.com/197996/housing-building-in-carabanchel-amann-canovas-maruri/
No - it is not bad to have discrete stairs for each apartment.
ReplyDeleteBUT:
-this tends to work in low level buildings (i.e. no units are superimposed on another)
-if in a tiered condition where different residents are atop each other, this presents problems but is possible if everyone can still escape to an outdoor corridor with egress (think cheap Florida motel with upper level balconies in a courtyard); this would be terrible in Toronto's climate
I don't know what you are thinking exactly without any imagery but individual stairs for each unit tends to be extremely inefficient in floor plans and given your premium on space, I question that decision highly.
The decision lies in providing openings in the bedrooms, as well as living spaces, instead of having my bedrooms get all the light while the living room and kitchen lie in a cave. This would make the footprint of each unit be a lot narrower, thus allowing me to allocate more units along the edge of the building. I would still make sure the distance from each room to the fire stairs is no more than 45 meters, accounting for the distance to the lower level and then to the fire stairs. The stairs' inefficiency would be made up by the extra space gained from not having a corridor on one of the two levels. Also, it would allow me to have double height ceilings in the individual apartments.
ReplyDeleteAlso, side question. Can I have non-operable, 2hr fire rated windows on the south side without having to set back 5.5 meters?
ReplyDeleteGlass block or translucent bits - clear (though possible with ratings) is deterred... Highly deterred.
ReplyDeleteGlass block or translucent bits - clear (though possible with ratings) is deterred... Highly deterred.
ReplyDelete