A stair tread is the horizontal portion of a set of stairs on which a person walks. The tread can be composed of wood, metal, plastic, or other materials. In residential settings, treads can be covered in carpeting. Stair treads can come in non-slip varieties, particularly in commercial or industrial locations. [1]
There are a number of different styles of tread:
These treads are used to embellish the start of a flight of stairs, they may have either a straight front to them or a commode/curved front to enhance them further.
According to the United States Access Board, stair treads in buildings shall have uniform tread depths that are 11 inches, or 280 mm, at minimum. Treads are not permitted to have a slope steeper than 1:48. [4]
All stair tread installations must comply with Regulation 302 of the ADA Standards for Accessible Design. The regulation states that the surface of the [tread] must be firm, stable, and slip-resistant. [5]
The Dylan's Candy Bar flagship location features a stair case consisting of 53 resin stair treads and three landings that are embedded with real candy and equipped with inserted abrasion strips.
China's first children's design museum, Kids Museum of Glass, has alternating black and white stair treads on its central staircase, earning the nickname "The Piano Staircase". [6]
As part of the Underground Shopping Center Public Art Project, the Seoul Metropolitan Facilities Management Corporation built a piano staircase in the underground passage at Euljiro 1-ga Station. Each step lit up and played a note as it was walked on. [7]
IDEO Labs' interns created a musical staircase during summer of 2011. Each tread played a different sound when stepped on. [8]
Johns Hopkins University students turned a Hackerman Hall staircase into a piano, with a new note per step. The Hopkins Robotics Club modified the staircase so the treads played the C scale. [9]
Stairs are a structure designed to bridge a large vertical distance between lower and higher levels by dividing it into smaller vertical distances. This is achieved as a diagonal series of horizontal platforms called steps which enable passage to the other level by stepping from one to another step in turn. Steps are very typically rectangular. Stairs may be straight, round, or may consist of two or more straight pieces connected at angles.
A newel, also called a central pole or support column, is the central supporting pillar of a staircase. It can also refer to an upright post that supports and/or terminates the handrail of a stair banister. In stairs having straight flights it is the principal post at the foot of the staircase, but the term can also be used for the intermediate posts on landings and at the top of a staircase. Although its primary purpose is structural, newels have long been adorned with decorative trim and designed in different architectural styles.
The Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States, is a former Roman Catholic church that is now used as a museum and a wedding chapel.
The Treasury Building, also previously known as the New Public Offices, is a heritage-listed former government public administration building located at 21 Queen Street, Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1886 to 1928 for the Queensland Government. On 21 October 1992 the Italian Renaissance style building was added to the Queensland Heritage Register.
StairMaster is an American company specializing in the design and production of fitness equipment. They sell cardiovascular and strength equipment such as stair climbing machines, TreadClimber cardio machines and dumbbell sets. The Stairmaster was so widely used that people referred to nearly all other brands of step climbers as StairMasters.
The 175th Street station is a station on the IND Eighth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located in the Washington Heights neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, at the intersection of 175th Street and Fort Washington Avenue, it is served by the A train at all times.
Stair climbing is the climbing of a flight of stairs. It is often described as a "low-impact" exercise, often for people who have recently started trying to get in shape. A common exhortation in health pop culture is "Take the stairs, not the elevator".
A stair lift is a mechanical device for lifting people, typically those with disabilities, up and down stairs. For sufficiently wide stairs, a rail is mounted to the treads of the stairs. A chair or lifting platform is attached to the rail. A person gets onto the chair or platform and is lifted up or down the stairs by the chair which moves along the rail.
The 49th Street station is a local station on the BMT Broadway Line of the New York City Subway. Located at West 49th Street and Seventh Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, it is served by the N train at all times, the R train at all times except late nights, the W train on weekdays, and the Q train during late nights.
The Survivors' Staircase was the last visible remaining original structure above ground level at the World Trade Center site. It was originally an outdoor flight of granite-clad stairs and two escalators which connected Vesey Street to the World Trade Center's Austin J. Tobin Plaza. During the September 11 attacks, the stairs served as an escape route for hundreds of evacuees from 5 World Trade Center, a 9-floor building adjacent to the Twin Towers. The staircase is now an important feature of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
Tulip Hill is a plantation house located about one mile from Galesville in Anne Arundel County in the Province of Maryland. Built between 1755 and 1756, it is a particularly fine example of an early Georgian mansion, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970 for its architecture.
The Suntop Homes, also known under the early name of The Ardmore Experiment, were quadruple residences located in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, and based largely upon the 1935 conceptual Broadacre City model of the minimum houses. The design was commissioned by Otto Tod Mallery of the Tod Company in 1938 in an attempt to set a new standard for the entry-level housing market in the United States and to increase single-family dwelling density in the suburbs. In cooperation with Frank Lloyd Wright, the Tod Company secured a patent for the unique design, intending to sell development rights for Suntops across the country.
An escalator is a moving staircase which carries people between floors of a building or structure. It consists of a motor-driven chain of individually linked steps on a track which cycle on a pair of tracks which keep the step tread horizontal.
Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook is a 57-acre (0.23 km2) California State Park is located just southwest of downtown Culver City. To some Los Angeles area residents, the site is more commonly known as the Culver City Stairs. This outdoor staircase is designed into the trails leading up to a view of the greater Los Angeles area.
In architecture, a perron generally refers to an external stairway to a building. Curl notes three more-specific usages: the platform-landing reached by symmetrical flights of steps leading to the piano nobile of a building; the steps themselves; or the platform base of edifices like a market cross. Perron also refers to a type of Belgian civic monument, which usually sits on a perron.
Dornoch Terrace Bridge is a heritage-listed road bridge at Dornoch Terrace, West End, Queensland, Australia. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 1 October 2007.
Nosing is the horizontal, protruding edge of a stair where most foot traffic frequently occurs.
Westpac Bank Building is a heritage-listed bank building at 337–343 Flinders Street, Townsville CBD, City of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Hall and Cook and built in 1935 by Stuart Brothers (Sydney). It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 13 May 2004.
A step street is a thoroughfare fitted with steps for pedestrian traffic rather than paved or tracked for motor vehicles. It is a practical way of providing access up and down a slope that is too steep for automobiles. Step streets consist of a staircase of stone or concrete steps, often with a handrail on posts down the center, and sometimes lined with trees. Examples can be found in hilly urban areas. Step streets fell out of popularity with urban designers as the use of the automobile increased in cities. In the early 2010s, efforts were made to restore some of these open-air staircases in New York City.
Parafield Airport Air Traffic Control Tower is a heritage-listed Air traffic control tower at Kittyhawk Lane, Parafield, South Australia, Australia. It was added to the Australian Commonwealth Heritage List on 22 January 2016.