Dennis Baszynski, our in-house stair specialist, is passionate about creating detailed stair designs that improve the circulation, function, safety, and aesthetics of a building.
Stair design is a critical component of every building project. Effective stair design that improves functionality and safety requires attention to detail, extensive knowledge of code requirements, and understanding of the building’s purpose and its occupants. Dennis’ high-quality and detailed stair design work ensures that our projects are safe, visually appealing, and have the functionality and circulation to meet our clients’ needs.
What drew you to a career in architecture?
When I was growing up, everywhere I went I was fascinated with all the different buildings that surrounded me. It wasn’t so much the building’s design I was interested in; I was more intrigued with how things on a whole are put together. The three things I have been fascinated with the most were art, architecture, and engineering. Architecture contains art and engineering, so it seemed like an obvious choice.
How and when did you become our stair design expert?
During my second year at SWBR I was asked to do vertical circulation detailing on a project. I had absolutely no idea what was required or how to detail anything. I was provided with several books and a vast amount of detailing by a very experienced SWBR Senior Technical Coordinator. After doing stairs on several projects, it seemed like I found something I had no idea I was good at. I have worked on approximately 700 projects to date, assuming each building has between 2 and 4 stairs, that would be 1400-2400 stairs I have worked on in my career.
What do you love about stair design?
Stairs are made up of many parts and it becomes one functioning piece combined. I like it when I can hyper-focus on that for hours at a time. It’s a real pleasure to detail all the different parts of the stairs. In the end viola, zero errors and the shop drawings are a breeze because I know got it right the first time.
How critical is stair design in the overall architectural layout of the building?
There are two types of stairs I would work on. Exit stairs are a necessary part of every building. It provides us with a safe passage out of the building during a fire. Decorative stairs such as lobby stairs could be seen like a massive sculpture that we are allowed to engage with.
What are some common challenges you face when designing staircases, and how do you overcome them?
There are all kinds of challenges to overcome. The code challenge is one we must always meet with each stair. There are dimensional challenges we run into like the stairs are too long for the space we have or there is not enough headroom to make it work there. There are also structural challenges where we have nothing to attach the stairs to or the stringers need to be sized up and we don’t like the look. Then there is the budget challenge where it costs too much. I just try to make everything work for the client.
What do most people not know about the importance of stair design in the functionality of the building?
The average person does not know there is a building code which defines all the requirements a stair has to comply with to meet the code. Those code requirements are there for our safe passage from point a to b. Those requirements were created based on human experience, what works and what does not work with our safety as the primary objective.
How has technology benefitted the stair design process?
Over the years, SWBR has used various 2d CAD programs. When 2d drafting is used for stairs, there are plenty of ways a detail could go wrong. That is because it is hard to coordinate separate parts of the stairs accurately. Once SWBR started using Revit which is a 3d program, it provided a semi-convenient way to do 3d stairs. My perspective is that it falls short of the real goal. Having dealt with that, I created my own system of making fully 3d stairs with all the structural members as well as all the handrails falling into the correct connections. It’s helped reduce any mis-coordination between the architectural drawings and the shop drawings.
What are some of your favorite stair projects that you’ve designed?
University of Rochester Genesee Hall lobby stairs. The challenge was to keep the stringers as small as possible, and it was quite a long span supported by hanging rods on one end. It consists of tile on the treads, perforated risers, cable guards, wood top rail on the guards and stainless-steel handrails. The fabricator did the calculations and had changes that were necessary to make it work. We made compromises and in the end it all came out incredibly nice. It was a very fun project to work on.
The other project would be Cornell University Atkinson Hall. SWBR partnered with Lake Flato Architects of San Antonio, Texas on this project. It is a five-story stair with stringers below the wood timber treads. The guards are ¾” diameter rods at various dimensions apart with a bar stock top and bottom cap. The handrails are SST. The entire stair looks to be floating in an enclosed opening only touching one side. There are even expansion joints on the stairs. This stair was made possible by two teams of architects and a structural engineer all located in different parts of the USA.