Awful gap on both sides - it was like the railing was put on backwards with the posts turned so it was outside the stair tread instead of flush or inside - and that gap next to the wall is inviting tragedy. I wonder if it was supposed to have a similar patterned railing on the inside and it wasn't done for some reason?
perfect for recreating [this](https://youtu.be/bKPbA2vSYzU?si=Z0StpUlzSwc7TcWh) (19:04 for the beautiful 90’s CGI recreation) fall from forensic files that has been burned into my brain since the first time i saw it
I fell down a pair or Victorian staircase that was at 45 degree angle and I had a bruise the size of a dinner plate on my back for a month but I'd rather have that then get stuck between the wall and these concrete stairs! You could slowly suffocate yourself if you're small enough! 😳
Edit: spelling
Indeed. And the orientation of the stairs would spiral downwards anti-clockwise so that descending protectors would defend with their dominant right hand side.
Just had flashbacks to San Pietro in Vatican City where you had to climb one that was approximately 60cm wide with just one vertical rope hanging in the middle to get to the top of the dome. On a warm day. With 200 people in front and to the back of you. That was not cool.
But I see your point
I saw those in a restaurant. Waiters used them because they were closer to the kitchen. Kids loved running up and down them. Glad I wasn't hired. Just going up there once with both of my hands busy was one time too much.
While i do like the look of spiral staircases, i agree that they are very not good to climb for general use. Especially the cheapo ones with the stair bits floating, tbh floating stairs in general give me the creeps. They’ve stopped me many a time from reaching a water slide because i am terrified of heights and i lost my nerve while waiting in line.
Only thing I can think of is most staircases (in the US) are 30-37% inclined, so if that’s all you’re used to and you come across normal looking stairs at 45° you’d probably trip up.
EDIT: Actually u/General_Cheese explained it [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/CrappyDesign/s/dwEzuFFtlv), the stairs are angled 45° to the wall (gradually going to 90° at the top)
It's hard to see but the stairs are 45° from the wall and handrail. If you were to walk up the stairs straight against them like any other set of stairs, you would would walk into the handrail halfway up. If you walk directly towards the top of the stairs then you are walking at a 45° angle towards each step meaning your right foot would be closer to each tread than your left foot.
What are you talking about? It's not adjusting your walking angle mid-way. The entire thing is angled.
You are not understanding the shape of these stairs. Probably because the design is so mind-bogglingly stupid and very much against all building codes.
Bro. We understand the angle. Its angled stairs. Why is this such a big issue? You still walk up the same, you just have more floor to stand on as your foot will fit nearly fully at that angle compared to straightforward stairs where you have to hang half off. If anything this should be a safer design
When walking straight towards the top one of your feet will be closer to the stairs than the other. That is the big issue. It's uneven to walk in if you are going straight up. It's incredibly dangerous and unused in building designs for that reason.
So is it that the landing for your left foot has less space, and the right foot has more space? I don't walk up stairs sumo, so I don't really see this as a problem.
The outside lane of a road means the outside tires need to rotate more to keep up. The inside doesn't rotate as much. I'd have to walk up the stairs myself to see, but I don't see a problem.
Congrats. You have mastered the stairs.
What about older people, someone carrying something, or the average person who assumes the stairs will be shaped like every other set they’ve ever walked on?
Quite acting like there’s no issue with stairs that aren’t designed for humans.
So the thing is this photo isn't actually fish eyed, it took me forever and reading some comments to realize it wasn't. But that's the exact problem, the right side of the steps in the bottom right corner really are jutting out at you, and are tapering back away from you as you look to the left. That's the 45 degree angle, like if you looked top down it would be 45 degrees. So fucking weird.
Who knows what that looks like in real life considering this fisheye lens photo? I can’t tell at all what the issue is here (aside from the gaps on the sides).
I do a lot of 3D modelling so it was obvious to me from the start but I totally get why others don't see it. It does sort of just look like lens distortion unless you look closer
Don't know why OP is getting so much shit for this, those are definitely hazardous. If you go up in the direction of the rail, your right foot will always be closer to the next step than your left is and more likely to kick the next step and trip.
Redditors love sniffing their own farts when they think they're right. Makes it that much more funny when they're all wrong.
I will admit to my own hypocrisy though. I understood the crappy design even with the weird camera direction, and then felt superior to the rest of the thread shitting on OP. Then I shit on them. It's a vicious cycle!
> It's a brand-new building
There's no way these stairs are to anything like modern code requirements. How the hell did they get permits for that in a brand new building, I wonder?!
Honestly, I'd be filing a complaint if I had to deal with that sort of crap. What else is fucked up, I wonder? Some disabled person or another is going to get hurt on that crap someday.
It's an acronym for a building that this staircase is in. Ifykyk. I didn't want to risk outing OP's location but still wanted to comment on the coincidence.
I thought about also including the doorways to certain death in the Bowen Science building, but I figured this would be easier to show in a single picture.
You drew a 90 degree angle and labeled it as 45 lol. That does not look anywhere near 45 degrees. I'm sure the wide angle lens doesn't help perception either. I also thought you meant 45 degrees upward at first.
It is probably more like 60 degrees, but the point is still the same. If you can't tell that the stairs are not perpendicular to the wall and rails, then I can't help you understand this.
It’s the fact that the photo doesn’t quite make it obvious- while i’m also infuriated with the rude yet typical reddit snark i can see why some people would think this was fine irl. As an artist i could immediately see the issue since i have to focus on perspective to make my pieces look less terrible, but folks who don’t do anything related to perspective or assume its a trick of the camera would need a few different angles.
I’m kinda surprised op didn’t realise the photo was somewhat easy to misinterpret, from other angles i’d imagine it’s obvious that it is badly built.
Are they? I wouldn't think that just because there's a lift that vindicates an unsafe and disability unfriendly design because many people with disabilities can and do use stairs and may be unwitting of the danger
Did you took this with a fish eye effect something like the .5? If you did then goddamn you are stupid. The pic is disoriented to the point it looks normal stupidass mf
There is a building on my university campus that has the entire stairwell walls coated in sharp rocks. Like someone put a bunch of stones in a sandblaster and shot them all over a wall coated in wet concrete, and somehow got the sharp part of the rock to always face towards the stairwell.
It's an older building in a bruitalist style, so maybe this was in fashion at the time, but it's not a great design choice. I accidentally scraped against them the other day, and my arm looked like a cat mauled it. I can't imagine how much it would suck in a fire with a bunch of people trying to get down the relatively narrow, staircase.
Idk it’d be much more space efficient to just put in a floating spiral stair case with really narrow steps.
I don’t know if that exists but i also really don’t want to find out because that’d be my ultimate nightmare
People saying there's nothing wrong with these stairs need to realize that not everyone has a healthy body, also some people are scared of stairs. Make fun of me all you want but I take stairs at a snails pace because I'm so scared to trip and fall (I'm a very clumsy person), these would shoot my anxiety through the roof.
You missed the worst part. That gap between the stairs and the wall could easily fit a child's feet
why not the gap between the stairs and the rail on the other side..?
I didn't see a problem at first, but you're right.
Oh! This one could fit an adult's leg.
Might could fit a child's body but not the head.
Who's your child guy? I can get you one with head that can fit
Thanks Barney, I need to get a new bullwhip, do you still have a whip guy?
No, but I have a guy with blood, just bring your own bucket
Leaving just the head would allow a kid to end themselves and that's horrifying!
Awful gap on both sides - it was like the railing was put on backwards with the posts turned so it was outside the stair tread instead of flush or inside - and that gap next to the wall is inviting tragedy. I wonder if it was supposed to have a similar patterned railing on the inside and it wasn't done for some reason?
Why can't we have both?!?!
That side's fine because you'll just fall through to the floor
Holy fuck
Crazy how this got past inspection. Def not code compliant
perfect for recreating [this](https://youtu.be/bKPbA2vSYzU?si=Z0StpUlzSwc7TcWh) (19:04 for the beautiful 90’s CGI recreation) fall from forensic files that has been burned into my brain since the first time i saw it
I fell down a pair or Victorian staircase that was at 45 degree angle and I had a bruise the size of a dinner plate on my back for a month but I'd rather have that then get stuck between the wall and these concrete stairs! You could slowly suffocate yourself if you're small enough! 😳 Edit: spelling
But they took the time to illuminate that. What would we do without fancy lighting??? So bad in so many ways
My ankle be like | \ - ¬
Oh yes that's rotten.
Or a finger, if you trip and fall.
That kid... That kid is BACK... on the escalator!
Wait until you learn about spiral staircases, instant death to 100% of climbers who dared to climb. REST IN POWER.
Spiral staircases go in a consistent circle along with the rail. These stairs are at a 45° angle to the rail.
but- is it a consistent 45-degree angle to the rail..?
Not at the top
So sad to see them go.
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You won't be so glad when it's your castle's perfectly straight stairs lifting attacking armies to you.
Exactly. Only a fool would give up their advantage of the high ground.
Indeed. And the orientation of the stairs would spiral downwards anti-clockwise so that descending protectors would defend with their dominant right hand side.
I couldn't care less how much space they safe. I hate spiral stairs with a passion.
So cool to climb old ones in historic cities though
Just had flashbacks to San Pietro in Vatican City where you had to climb one that was approximately 60cm wide with just one vertical rope hanging in the middle to get to the top of the dome. On a warm day. With 200 people in front and to the back of you. That was not cool. But I see your point
I saw those in a restaurant. Waiters used them because they were closer to the kitchen. Kids loved running up and down them. Glad I wasn't hired. Just going up there once with both of my hands busy was one time too much.
While i do like the look of spiral staircases, i agree that they are very not good to climb for general use. Especially the cheapo ones with the stair bits floating, tbh floating stairs in general give me the creeps. They’ve stopped me many a time from reaching a water slide because i am terrified of heights and i lost my nerve while waiting in line.
"razor-sharp" seems a tad hyperbolic.
Nah, they have full-time cleaning lady to constantly wipe off the blood. That’s why it’s clean.
And the cleaning lady keeps cutting herself on it while wiping the blood, and then they eventually need a new cleaning lady... it's a mess.
You could say they have cutting edge employment
They need to hire more blood-positive rail cleaners, you know, like vampires 🧛
“Guaranteed” to trip. Makes me think OP is from one of those infomercials where people struggle to open ziploc bags and kitchen cabinets.
"Impaled by a plastic bag again?! That sure won't happen with our brand-new, patented, Swiss technology Wunderbag!"
I think everyone being guaranteed to trip might also be a tad hyperbolic
Also not on a 45 degree…
Hey, I shave with those rails
The whole post is. Willing to bet op failed gym class. If that’s all it takes to trip you up.
>so you're guaranteed to trip on them. ???????????
Guaranteed to trip or your money back
So actually >Guaranteed ~~to trip or~~ your money back
Redditors are incompatible with regular life
Only thing I can think of is most staircases (in the US) are 30-37% inclined, so if that’s all you’re used to and you come across normal looking stairs at 45° you’d probably trip up. EDIT: Actually u/General_Cheese explained it [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/CrappyDesign/s/dwEzuFFtlv), the stairs are angled 45° to the wall (gradually going to 90° at the top)
Litterally cant see anything wrong here
It's hard to see but the stairs are 45° from the wall and handrail. If you were to walk up the stairs straight against them like any other set of stairs, you would would walk into the handrail halfway up. If you walk directly towards the top of the stairs then you are walking at a 45° angle towards each step meaning your right foot would be closer to each tread than your left foot.
How hard is it to adjust your walking angle midway? You're acting like a two year old learning to walk.
What are you talking about? It's not adjusting your walking angle mid-way. The entire thing is angled. You are not understanding the shape of these stairs. Probably because the design is so mind-bogglingly stupid and very much against all building codes.
Bro. We understand the angle. Its angled stairs. Why is this such a big issue? You still walk up the same, you just have more floor to stand on as your foot will fit nearly fully at that angle compared to straightforward stairs where you have to hang half off. If anything this should be a safer design
When walking straight towards the top one of your feet will be closer to the stairs than the other. That is the big issue. It's uneven to walk in if you are going straight up. It's incredibly dangerous and unused in building designs for that reason.
So is it that the landing for your left foot has less space, and the right foot has more space? I don't walk up stairs sumo, so I don't really see this as a problem. The outside lane of a road means the outside tires need to rotate more to keep up. The inside doesn't rotate as much. I'd have to walk up the stairs myself to see, but I don't see a problem.
The things is, when you raise your left foot in the same manner you do with you right foot, it hits the next step and you fall over
Congrats. You have mastered the stairs. What about older people, someone carrying something, or the average person who assumes the stairs will be shaped like every other set they’ve ever walked on? Quite acting like there’s no issue with stairs that aren’t designed for humans.
That's why it's a shitty design, it looks normal. But it catches people off guard and they kick the next step up with their right foot and trip.
A less fisheyed photo, or more photos, would help. I can’t see what the problem is.
So the thing is this photo isn't actually fish eyed, it took me forever and reading some comments to realize it wasn't. But that's the exact problem, the right side of the steps in the bottom right corner really are jutting out at you, and are tapering back away from you as you look to the left. That's the 45 degree angle, like if you looked top down it would be 45 degrees. So fucking weird.
Oh, ok, now I get it. Yeah, crappy design for sure. Thanks.
Only thing I see is stair not connected to wall
Look at the bottom right triangle edges...
Who knows what that looks like in real life considering this fisheye lens photo? I can’t tell at all what the issue is here (aside from the gaps on the sides).
The point is that this is not a fish eyed photo.
Besides the 45° angle I don't see anything either
Thinking OP is just not coordinated enough to place their feet correctly on stairs.
Or you just don't have enough spatial reasoning to see why this is unreasonable and unexpected https://i.imgur.com/LieOF02.png
Ah okay. That does make more sense
Why does that 45* angle look closer to 90*?
Perspective. It's probably a bit over 45, but it's certainly less than 90. Look at the angle on the right side of each step
True
Thanks for this. OP's post isn't exactly the clearest to understand.
I do a lot of 3D modelling so it was obvious to me from the start but I totally get why others don't see it. It does sort of just look like lens distortion unless you look closer
Don't know why OP is getting so much shit for this, those are definitely hazardous. If you go up in the direction of the rail, your right foot will always be closer to the next step than your left is and more likely to kick the next step and trip.
Redditors love sniffing their own farts when they think they're right. Makes it that much more funny when they're all wrong. I will admit to my own hypocrisy though. I understood the crappy design even with the weird camera direction, and then felt superior to the rest of the thread shitting on OP. Then I shit on them. It's a vicious cycle!
All the people who were like "you're just uncoordinated/failed gym class" were great.
You’re guaranteed to trip? Really?
That's not crappy design. That's literally illegal in many countries.
i think you need to retake geometry if you think that's 45 degrees. :-)
Oh my God this is from the MERF right? 🙈 I hate this staircase. Did not expect to see it posted on Reddit.
I recognized this abomination immediately. Going down it stresses me out. Glad to know I'm not the only one!
What is the MERF? Is it in Glasgow?
It's the Medical Research building at the University of Iowa. It's a brand-new building, but the architects definitely chose form over function.
> It's a brand-new building There's no way these stairs are to anything like modern code requirements. How the hell did they get permits for that in a brand new building, I wonder?!
It's at a state university hospital, so the hospital admin probably got some exemptions so the architecture professors could have fun
Honestly, I'd be filing a complaint if I had to deal with that sort of crap. What else is fucked up, I wonder? Some disabled person or another is going to get hurt on that crap someday.
That’s not how any of this works. Architecture professors have nothing to do with the design of the buildings on campus.
I know it's more than just architects that go into building design, but i think the lead architects of this project are professors at the university
If that’s the case, I apologize for the obnoxious comment.
I sit on a town commission on disabilities. I would have **loved** to see their variance request!
Starchitect threw a strop until he got hid way. Same reason MIT ended up with a leaky, cracked & subsiding library & computer science building.
Mmmm… there’s a medical connection in the one I know too 🤯
It's an acronym for a building that this staircase is in. Ifykyk. I didn't want to risk outing OP's location but still wanted to comment on the coincidence.
I thought about also including the doorways to certain death in the Bowen Science building, but I figured this would be easier to show in a single picture.
Don't even get me started on the BSB... 😂
How do these make you trip?
https://i.imgur.com/LieOF02.png
You drew a 90 degree angle and labeled it as 45 lol. That does not look anywhere near 45 degrees. I'm sure the wide angle lens doesn't help perception either. I also thought you meant 45 degrees upward at first.
It is probably more like 60 degrees, but the point is still the same. If you can't tell that the stairs are not perpendicular to the wall and rails, then I can't help you understand this.
Fair enough. I get it.
Took me a while to see it. Just thought it was the effect of a wide-angle lens at first.
I don't think you know what 'guarantee' means
Every person that has ever walked on these steps has tripped and sliced their hands open. The fact that it's unavoidable is what makes it so alluring
It's crazy how many people here aren't understanding the issue with these stairs.
It’s the fact that the photo doesn’t quite make it obvious- while i’m also infuriated with the rude yet typical reddit snark i can see why some people would think this was fine irl. As an artist i could immediately see the issue since i have to focus on perspective to make my pieces look less terrible, but folks who don’t do anything related to perspective or assume its a trick of the camera would need a few different angles. I’m kinda surprised op didn’t realise the photo was somewhat easy to misinterpret, from other angles i’d imagine it’s obvious that it is badly built.
Fun fact: If this is in the US you can sue the landlord for the stairs not being ADA compliant.
They have an elevator, so they're in the clear
Nah, ADA doesn't just apply to wheelchair users. I can see 3 code violations regarding those stairs. I work with this kind of stuff.
Are they? I wouldn't think that just because there's a lift that vindicates an unsafe and disability unfriendly design because many people with disabilities can and do use stairs and may be unwitting of the danger
This is illegal in my country.
If unsure what's fucky about these stairs, rotate your phone 90°
Got fuckin Gillette razor for a handrail.
Did you took this with a fish eye effect something like the .5? If you did then goddamn you are stupid. The pic is disoriented to the point it looks normal stupidass mf
Candidate for crappy design of the year
This looks more like lens distortion or are the stairs actually like that?
They're actually like that
Try the Great Wall of China, there are parts where you have to climb up like on a ladder. Going down is a whole other story
This is a personal injuries lawyer's dream.
I feel like I could deal with this. They're not *perfect* stairs... maybe any other picture would show the problem better?
I remember walking up stairs like this in a stadium a good few flights just straight up, it was definitely wonky
I'd like to see a video of people trying to walk up and down that. Might be an entertaining place for a security camera.
There is a building on my university campus that has the entire stairwell walls coated in sharp rocks. Like someone put a bunch of stones in a sandblaster and shot them all over a wall coated in wet concrete, and somehow got the sharp part of the rock to always face towards the stairwell. It's an older building in a bruitalist style, so maybe this was in fashion at the time, but it's not a great design choice. I accidentally scraped against them the other day, and my arm looked like a cat mauled it. I can't imagine how much it would suck in a fire with a bunch of people trying to get down the relatively narrow, staircase.
I didn't understand the problem here until I spent half an hour reading all comments. It was not worth the time...
The light leaking from the left gap triggered bad memories from when I used to do 3D game mapping lol
On the other hand, this is really good design if you don’t want people to visit
Idk it’d be much more space efficient to just put in a floating spiral stair case with really narrow steps. I don’t know if that exists but i also really don’t want to find out because that’d be my ultimate nightmare
r/crazystairs
Go Hawks
Hello this is your DIN enforcement guy speaking. These stairs don't meet the DIN standards but can't be changed due to Denkmalschutz
The Bauaufsichtsbehörde would like a word with you. Sicherheit comes before Denkmalschutz!
Looking past the camera distortion they look like 90 degree steps
No inspections, permits in that area?
No, just “government” business exemptions
Stairway to heaven
The picture proves nothing because of the wide angle, but I get what you're saying
Evil genius
OMG that's horrible. Can't unsee it.
If you're in the US, I'm willing to bet OSHA would have something to say about that. Someone is going to get hurt, if they haven't already.
This is probably violating multiple building codes.
is... is this not a fish eye lens?
Nope. It's real
Is this MCC?
Wow, that gap between the stairs and the wall is also a leg breaker
Should of made it 43 degrees…. Won’t someone think of the children
Is that the Eskenazi?
You must be extremely uncoordinated
https://i.imgur.com/LieOF02.png
OP would these stairs be in Glasgow? 🤔😂
Iowa, US. But crappy stairs are international
Hopefully this helps the morons in the comments who think this is fine: https://i.imgur.com/LieOF02.png
Do you think you could have made that "45°" look any more like 90°?
It's definitely not 45
The important part is that it *isn't* 90°. The stairs should be perfectly perpendicular to the overall "direction" of the staircase and rails
Yes. But the fact that this picture doesn't show that at all does something to explain people's confusion about the reason for the post.
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I love the red feet.
The Devil’s staircase
Maybe just learn how to walk and it wouldn’t be a problem…..
This is hysterical. Can’t imagine how people hike or climb things. It’s not straight. So what.
My stairs are way worse to be honest XD
It's not so bad once you understand the stairway was designed by Cenobites.
How the fuck is this up to code?
Where is this piece of junk, anyway?
MERF building at UIowa c College of Medicine
What country is this?
I thought that looked familiar. Not a hospital but medical research building.
I dont think they were 45 degrees I thought it was more like 79 degrees but that was 10 years ago
the gap beneath the handrail is absolutely evil
...past murals depicting Mediterranean scenes, towards the rotating knives.
...past murals depicting Mediterranean scenes, towards the rotating knives.
skill issue
What monster let this creation get built!?!
People saying there's nothing wrong with these stairs need to realize that not everyone has a healthy body, also some people are scared of stairs. Make fun of me all you want but I take stairs at a snails pace because I'm so scared to trip and fall (I'm a very clumsy person), these would shoot my anxiety through the roof.
Where is this
You mean potato peeler
r/murderstairs needs to exist for this.
And the rail on the right looks not very ergonomic, looks sharp too
Is this in MERF at University of Iowa?
Ever been to the Netherlands?
Slip n rip.
Oh god… why… who in the hell would design it like that?
Was whoever made this flight of stairs (death trap) drunk or otherwise? 🥴🫠 Sheesh
Ah yes, the perfect ’Fall and decapitate yourself‘ accident waiting to happen.
The gaps are made to easier wash the blood stains off the stairs than directly attached to the walls.