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 half-landing before turning 180 degrees 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 half-landing, which spans the adjoining flank walls.

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 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 object or person falling from the upper half of the stairs is likely to stop at the landing; this is safer than letting it fall all the way to the bottom.

References

1. Hartwell, Clare; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2009) [1969]. Lancashire: North. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. p. 741. ISBN 0-300-12667-0.