Every office building has a stairwell, and in most of them, almost nobody uses it by choice. It exists behind a fire door, lit by a bare fixture, built to satisfy code rather than to be walked. A small number of buildings do the opposite: they put a real staircase at the center of the plan, make it visible from the entrance, and get people using it constantly, not because they have to, but because it’s simply the easier, more pleasant option.
Why some staircases get used and others just get walked past
Most office staircases sit behind a fire door and get ignored in favor of the elevator. A few get used constantly, and the difference is rarely about the number of steps.
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