Conrad Speckert

There are healthy limits to free advice, suggest you contact a company like Savaria to discuss.

This building has a LULA small elevator, the report you screenshotted is referring to stretcher-size requirements that are not applicable when the code exception for “limited-use/limited-application” elevators is used.

This pilot project for SES building design is also featured here. Others of similar configuration have been accepted in Vancouver, Edmonton and Hamilton. singlestair.ca/Office-Ou

Office Ou — Single Stair Alternative Solutions: CMHC Housing Supply Challenge Office Ou Pilot Project (Toronto) Typology 3-Storey Apartment Building Occupancy Group C, 6 Dwelling Units Classification 2024 Ontario Building Code,...

The project is described in more detail here - singlestair.ca/Office-Ou

Winner of Billings Architectural Association's 2025 Single-Stair Housing Competition by Trae Schwenneker. The competition focused on urban infill in Downtown Billings, MT.

The winning project honors the historic brick architect of Montana Avenue w/ ground-floor retail & four upper levels of condos.

A few more renderings, diagrams and the typical floor plan!

Decoding Timber Towers | Urbanarium

To see all the drawings and other submissions, check out - urbanarium.org/decoding-tim...

Our team placed 2nd in the Urbanarium "Decoding Timber Towers" architectural ideas competition (1st place to @moriyamateshima.bsky.social) with our 20-storey mass timber tower featuring a compact elevator and exit stair core, exposed ceilings, prefab balconies and a balanced mix of 1 to 4 bed homes!

Pew finds something that everybody in codes and standards knows but few will say out loud: we apply far stricter fire safety standards to apartments than to houses. www.pew.org/en/research-...

Why Building Modern Apartments Can Solve the Housing Shortage and Improve Fire Safety State and local policymakers across the country are exploring ways to expand housing options as communities face a persistent shortage that has driven costs to record highs. One way to close the gap i...

“Modern apartments have a fire death rate … six times lower than older apartments… (or) single-family homes…”

Aka why new single stair flats would be among the safest buildings in your city.

www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-bu...

Modular, mass timber, and single-stair

This workforce housing project in Montana maxes out the current IBC code limitations on single housing with a 10,000 sf floor plate and 8-bed units that each feature shared living, kitchen, and laundry.

www.idcubedmodular.com/blank

Floor plans available anywhere?

This comparison shows the price of putting an internal garage on a rowhouse

Both of these rowhomes are ~16' wide

Left: 2BR+Den/3BA
Right: 4BR/3.5BA

So the cost is losing TWO bedroom.

E3, Kaden Klingbeil Architekten (2008)
Esmarchstrasse 3, Prenzlauerberg

Height: 7 storeys (22m)
Use: 6 dwellings, 1 commercial
GFA: 987m2
Sprinklered: No

This early example of mass timber used alternative code compliance to exceed the height limit for timber construction and has an exterior stair.

Baugemeinschaft Walden 48
Scharabi Architekten + Anne Raupach (2020)
Landsberger Allee 48, Friedrichshain

Height: 6 storeys incl. mezz (18m)
Use: 43 dwellings
GFA: 4,800m2
Sprinklered: No

Each exit stair serves 2 or 3 homes per storey for a total of twelve dwelling units served by each exit stair.

A few more pics, exterior metal entry gate, dry standpipe riser, exterior screened garbage enclosure, slate cladding and perforated wood soffits

Visited two of my favourite Point Access Blocks (single stair apartment buildings) in Berlin… E3 on Esmarchstrasse in Prenzlauerberg (encapsulated mass timber, noncombustible exterior stair) and Walden 48 co-op housing project nearby in exposed mass timber and treated wood cladding.

Why are single-stair buildings actually SAFER than two stair buildings in some circumstances?

It seems counter intuitive… obviously, more redundancy is better, right?

Important TOMORROW:

The LA City Council is going to vote on whether to legalize single stair buildings. Opponents have launched a disinformation campaign, and we need people to give public comment in support.

Will you be joining me tomorrow at 10am in City Hall?

🧡

Design study comparing single-stair vs multiple stair egress on a small 5,500 SF lot in Denver:

(L) double-loaded corridor
•71% efficiency
•(4) units

(R) single-stair
•87% efficiency
•(4) dual-aspect units

We must work within the firefighting capabilities that exist here today, and hence focus on technical conditions to achieve a better level of safety/lower risk through building systems and design.

Sweden and Germany’s codes are premised upon corridor separation of the exit where ladder rescue cannot be accomodated. Since ladder rescue is not practical in North America above 3 storeys (trees, overhead utilities, access routes) - the basis of SES/PAB >3/4 storeys is that it must have corridors.

I have only had some informal meetings

Week 2

On a tiny corner lot in Boston, Condor Street Housing shows how much a single stair can do. A small elevator makes every unit barrier-free, linked by a short corridor to meet code. Even on one of the tightest sites, the plan delivers safe and accessible homes.

Behold the power of single stair

Single Stair Alternative Solutions: CMHC Housing Supply Challenge Single Stair Alternative Solutions: Design Innovation for Middle Housing

Some metrics here on the prototypes tab, floor area efficiency, construction cost, rental income, residual land value, etc. - www.singlestair.ca

My first Starter Pack! The Canadian urbanism and planning community on here is growing. Give these folks a follow. Some well known faces … and some you should get to know! (please re-post!) go.bsky.app/AEYL7FZ

The Case for Single Stair Buildings w/ Stephen Smith Mass Construction Show · Episode

I had a good conversation with Joe Kelly on his Mass Construction Show podcast about single-stair. It’s for construction/code/fire folks, so it was more technical than most.

A new state has joined the single-stair club: New Hampshire now allows four stories of multifamily, four units per floor, with a single stair. And it’s the cleanest code section there is – same conditions as for three stories. www.centerforbuilding.org/trackers?tra...