I think stairs may be one of the most emotionally malleable physical elements that an architect has to work with.
Mislim da bi stepenice mogle biti jedan od emotivno najprilagodljivijih fizičkih elemenata sa kojim arhitekta može da radi.
[Small thing. Big idea.]
[Mala stvar. Velika ideja.]
[David Rockwell on the Stairs]
[Dejvid Rokvel o stepenicama]
At its most basic, a stair is a way to get from point A to point B at different elevations. Stairs have a common language. Treads, which is the thing that you walk on. Riser, which is the vertical element that separates the two treads. A lot of stairs have nosings that create a kind of edge. And then, the connected piece is a stringer. Those pieces, in different forms, make up all stairs.
Najosnovnije, stepenice su način da se stigne od tačke A do tačke B na različitim uzvišenjima. Stepenice imaju zajednički jezik. Gazište, to je ona stvar po kojoj hodamo. Čelo, to je vertikalni deo, koji razdvaja dva gazišta. Većina stepenica ima ispust koji stvara nekakvu ivicu. A zatim, deo koji spaja je stepenišni krak. Ti delovi, u različitim oblicima, čine svake stepenice.
I assume stairs came to be from the first time someone said, "I want to get to this higher rock from the lower rock." People climbed using whatever was available: stepped logs, ladders and natural pathways that were worn over time. Some of the earliest staircases, like the pyramids in Chichén Itzá or the roads to Mount Tai in China, were a means of getting to a higher elevation, which people sought for worship or for protection.
Pretpostavljam da su stepenice nastale kada je prvi put neko rekao: "Želim da dođem do ove više stene sa niže." Ljudi su se penjali koristeći šta god je bilo dostupno: stepenaste klade, merdevine i prirodne putanje koje su nastale vremenom. Neka od najranijih stepeništa, kao što su piramide u Čičen Ici ili putevi do planine Tai u Kini, bila su način da se stigne do uzvišenja, za kojima su ljudi tragali zbog religijskih obožavanja ili zaštite.
As engineering has evolved, so has what's practical. Stairs can be made from all kinds of material. There are linear stairs, there are spiraled stairs. Stairs can be indoors, they can be outdoors. They clearly help us in an emergency. But they're also a form of art in and of themselves.
Kako je inženjerstvo napredovalo, takođe je napredovalo i ono što je praktično. Stepenice se mogu napraviti od raznih materijala. Postoje linearne stepenice, kružne stepenice, Stepenice mogu biti unutrašnje, mogu biti spoljašnje. One nam svakako pomažu u hitnim situacijama. Ali su takođe i oblik umetnosti, same po sebi.
As we move across a stairway, the form dictates our pacing, our feeling, our safety and our relationship and engagement with the space around us. So for a second, think about stepping down a gradual, monumental staircase like the one in front of the New York Public Library. From those steps, you have a view of the street and all the people around you, and your walk is slow and steady because the tread is so wide. That's a totally different experience than going down the narrow staircase to, say, an old pub, where you spill into the room. There, you encounter tall risers, so you move more quickly.
Kada se krećemo niz stepenište, oblik određuje naš tempo, naš osećaj, našu sigurnost i našu vezu i mesto u prostoru oko nas. Zato, zamislite na trenutak kako silazite niz postepeno, monumentalno stepenište kao što je ono ispred Njujorške Javne biblioteke. Sa tih stepenika pruža se pogled na ulicu i na sve ljude oko vas, i vaš hod je spor i siguran zato što je gazište veoma široko. To je skroz drugačije iskustvo nego silaženje niz uzano stepenište recimo, u nekom starom pabu, gde ste ubačeni na sred prostorije Tamo, nailazite na visoka čela, tako da se krećete brže.
Stairs add enormous drama. Think about how stairs signaled a grand entrance and were the star of that moment. Stairs can even be heroic. The staircase that remained standing after September 11th and the attack on the World Trade Center was dubbed the "Survivors' Staircase," because it played such a central role in leading hundreds of people to safety.
Stepenice stvaraju ogromnu dramu. Razmislite o tome kako su stepenice obeležile veličanstven ulazak i bile zvezda trenutka. Stepenice mogu biti i herojske. Stepenište koje je ostalo nakon 11. septembra, napada na Svetski trgovinski centar, nazvano je "Stepenište preživelih", zbog toga što je odigralo glavnu ulogu u vođenju stotine ljudi na sigurno.
But small stairs can have a huge impact, too. The stoop is a place that invites neighbors to gather, blast music, and watch the city in motion. It's fascinating to me that you see people wanting to hang out on the stairs. I think they fill a deeply human need we have to inhabit a space more than just on the ground plane. And so if you're able to sit halfway up there, you're in a kind of magical place.
Ali male stepenice mogu takođe da imaju veliki uticaj. Ulazne stepenice su mesto koje poziva komšije na okupljanje, da p uštajuglasnu muziku i posmatraju grad koji se kreće. Meni je zadivljujuće to što ljudi žele da provode vreme na stepenicama. Mislim da one ispunjavaju duboku ljudsku potrebu za nastanjivanjem još nekog prostora osim zemljine ravni. A ako možete da sedite negde na sredini vi ste na nekom čarobnom mestu.