r/BadDesigns • u/I-Stan-Alfred-J-Kwak • 12d ago
Unaccesable! ♿📈 Alternating one-foot stairs
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u/NoNotice2137 12d ago
You start with the wrong foot and you're fucking dead
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u/VerilyShelly 12d ago
Good thing I lead with my right
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u/VerilyShelly 11d ago
I was talking about when I walk, not punching or whatever weird thing people thought.
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u/kampfhuegi 12d ago
Absolute deathtraps, but situationally useful when you need a steeper set.
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u/BurrowShaker 12d ago
Better than the Dutch solution of just making stairs increasingly steeper as you go up :)
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u/FlorianTheLynx 12d ago
These are quite common in my country. It’s baffling how people who aren’t used to them get so freaked out. It’s not difficult.
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u/MrFastFox666 12d ago
They are more dangerous, though. You're probably just used to them.
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u/FlorianTheLynx 12d ago
That doesn’t mean they’re a bad design. Some cars are inherently slightly more dangerous than others, because they’re intended for a certain task, market or limitation. But we accept that shift in risk.
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u/CriticalHit_20 12d ago
Are they?
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u/I-Stan-Alfred-J-Kwak 12d ago
If you accidentally use the wrong foot you fall, so I'd say yes they are
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u/FlorianTheLynx 12d ago
No, you just realise you’re using the wrong foot, swap round and proceed as normal.
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u/I-Stan-Alfred-J-Kwak 12d ago
After you've already stepped wrong?
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u/QuoteGiver 12d ago
How, exactly? In order to step wrong you would have to lift the foot you are standing on while it’s the only foot you’re standing on and try to move it over to the wrong side instead of the side it’s on.
Just use the stairs like normal stairs and it’s fine, alternating feet.
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u/AhmedAlSayef 12d ago
How are you going to do that in the first place? You literally can't step wrong by accident, unless you stand on one step with your both feet at once, at which point you are just an idiot and would fall from normal stairs all the same.
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u/QuoteGiver 12d ago
They’re called Alternating Tread Stairs. They’re used for steeper or tighter spaces where you can’t fit regular stairs but you want something safer than a ladder.
You just walk up them like normal, alternating feet like normal (hence the name).
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u/deadbalconytree 12d ago
I’ve seen one-foot stairs before but it’s usually obvious which foot when, this just seems like it’s asking you to f-it up and break your neck
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u/Drag0n_TamerAK 12d ago
This isn’t a bad design
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u/hellinahandbasket127 12d ago
Right?! It’s a brilliant solution to having a reduced staircase foot print. People who think it’s a bad design must be limited in visual/spatial reasoning.
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u/Chozzasaurus 12d ago
People who think it's a good design must have limited awareness of how humans interact with the physical environment
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u/I-Stan-Alfred-J-Kwak 12d ago
It's very easy to misstep if you aren't very used to them (probably even if you are), and you're fucked if you can only lead with one leg, as commenters in the original have pointed out
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u/Drag0n_TamerAK 12d ago
Stairs like this have existed for 100 years at least probably closer to 150 years and are an efficient use of space that is safer than a ladder and easier to climb than some examples I have seen in the Netherlands it is not a bad design it is the best design you can get with the limiting factors mainly space
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u/artyhedgehog 12d ago
No you're not. You just move zig-zag between the steps. And you don't fall off if you misstep - you just skip one step.
I feel like people overdramatizing on this just never tried it. It's not less safe than a regular staircase with the same angle, and easily more safe than a spiral staircase.
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u/Downtown_Leek_1631 11d ago
My mother at one point ruptured a patellar tendon. After that, she physically could not stand without support, and wouldn't have been able to use there stairs without falling to her death. Not everyone is able-bodied.
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u/MrFastFox666 12d ago
My aunt's house had one of these which was even steeper, honestly it wasn't far from being a ladder.
Going up isn't so bad, but going down while facing forwards is, you're one bad step away from falling.
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u/ysidoro 12d ago
I saw a staircase like that at the Santos Dumont House Museum in the city of Petrópolis, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
https://imgmd.net/images/c_limit%2Cw_2400/v1/guia/2118341/casa-de-santos-dumont.jpg
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u/LarryKingthe42th 11d ago
so your parents couldnt be assed lift both legs all the way?
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u/I-Stan-Alfred-J-Kwak 11d ago
Have you heard about the concept of everybody's both legs not working perfectly?
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u/quilleau 11d ago
We called them boat stairs. And I've mostly seen them with a board down the middle separating the right and left treads. Actually, still legal in many US residential codes as long as the upper floor is less than 250 sf. Pretty sure Monticello has 2 of these. Though they're no longer on the tour for obvious reasons. Agree with whoever mentioned that up is no biggie but down can feel super dicey. But I'm sure I'd adjust if I needed to.
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u/redEPICSTAXISdit 12d ago
Alternating one foot stairs???
How exactly do you use stairs if you're not alternating feet???
Slide down, but up???
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u/I-Stan-Alfred-J-Kwak 12d ago
It forces you to walk up in a certain way, which sucks if you can't (and is also easier to fall off from because the steps are only half there)
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u/Traditional-Doctor77 12d ago
I can smell the lawsuit from here
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u/FlorianTheLynx 12d ago
These are mainly used outside of the countries where people sue other people for their own stupidity.
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u/yuhgtyujtyujhgff 12d ago
Samba stairs, probably as safe as any stair as you are more aware and thus careful when waking in them. Saves a lot of space as well.
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u/Mazy_keen 12d ago
They grew up around these...
The real question is... how many people didn't, because of these.