Type of Staircase

 What type of staircase takes up the least space in a building? 

 A staircase can be said to take up spaces when it occupies spaces. 

 In other words, only the material part of the staircase uses up spaces. 

 Any spaces underneath, above and around the staircase can be considered as unoccupied. 

 Let’s consider it in this way, a staircase that you stepped on and its structure is positive spaces, and the spaces around the staircase are negative spaces. 

 A bookshelf, a room for your pet, a store, a toilet, a bar, a platform, or a seating area underneath your staircase is not occupying the same positive spaces that the actual staircase is occupying (they are simply underneath it). 

 The common stair type that we have seen: straight stairs without landing, dog-leg stair, spiral staircase, L-shape stairs, straight stairs with intermediate landing, curved stairs, and double L-shape stairs. 

 If you were to consider which one is going to take up the least spaces, define “your space” in two ways: 

 1. the negative spaces as opposed to the function that you want 

 2. the optionality that the negative spaces of the staircase can give 

 If you want a bigger room, a spiral staircase is going to look like it gives you the most leftover (spaces for you and your furniture) but its negative spaces around it are going to be almost redundant in compared to a straight flight stair. 

 Underneath of a spiral staircase will be the least likely solution to work as a storage for stuff or as a bookshelf, and if the unstored stuff is going to occupy your other area of spaces, you end up having the least occupied space stair but not the least stuff-occupied (in other words, spacious or the opposite of stuffy) room. 

 In terms of optionality, the number of designs that you can utilize around the negative spaces of your staircase could possibly make the staircase takes up the least spaces in your room. 

 So, what type of staircase takes up the least space in a building? 

 Probably the one that uses the least amount of material with the most design around it that you can explore with.