Dog-leg (stairs)

A dog-leg is a configuration of stairs between two floors of a building, often a domestic building, in which a flight of stairs ascends to a quarter-landing before turning at a right angle and continuing upwards.[1] The flights do not have to be equal, and frequently are not.

Structurally, the flights of a dog-leg stair are usually supported by the quarter-landing, which spans the adjoining flank walls. It is called a "quarter" because it is constructed at a 90 degree angle, which is a quarter of a 360-degree circle.[2]

From the design point of view, the main advantages of a dog-leg stair are:

  • To allow an arrangement that occupies a shorter, though wider, floor area than a straight flight, and so is more compact. Even though the landings consume more total floor space, there is no large single dimension.
  • The upper floor is not directly visible from the bottom of the stairs, thereby providing more privacy.

An open-well or straight staircase has some advantages over dog-leg stairs, including that the handrail can be continuous, which is helpful for elderly or disabled people.[3]

References

  1. ^ Hartwell, Clare; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2009) [1969]. Lancashire: North. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. p. 741. ISBN 978-0-300-12667-9.
  2. ^ Thorne, Gary (2015). Technical Drawing for Stage Design (ebook). Crowood Press. ISBN 9781785000669. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  3. ^ Rich, Peter; Dean, Yvonne (2012). Principles of Element Design. Taylor & Francis. p. 146. ISBN 9781135141448. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.