Over the past decade or so, bleacher stairs have become a ubiquitous marker of contemporary public architecture. It’s time for the trend to stop.
Its subsequent proliferation serves as a good example of how avant-garde design, or at least a consumerist version of it, filters down to the mainstream.
The broader point is that architects need to be more inventive as they plan new public spaces, and their patrons need to demand that those spaces are accessible for the entire population.
— The Dallas Morning News
The ubiquitous “bleacher stair” feature can be seen in designs for the Studio Museum of Harlem, Perez Art Museum Miami, and the new Gilder Center at the American Museum of Natural History (just by my count) and can be traced to Rem Koolhaas’ design for Prada’s NYC flagship in 2001, says architecture critic Mark Lamster in a look around Dallas. (He later mentions SOM’s new Schwarzman College of Computing for MIT as a positive adaptation of the trend.)
Interestingly, architect and disability advocate David Gissen tells him, “I think a giant mattress would be a more appropriate element with which to gather people together. Many disabled people have called for cities to re-imagine rest as a public good, and I think it is important that we explore the possibilities.”
Other critics have begun taking note elsewhere. How refreshing it is still to see criticism include a discussion like this that doesn’t expressly encourage “bad building.”
6 Comments
I'm pretty torn on this.
There are some egregiously bad examples and situations where the stair creates a large space in the center of the bleacher stair that is not accessible.
But the one we see in the image for this article? The one that probably used to be a trash-filled non-conformingly small sidelot filled with broken bottles and piss? The one that has accessible seating areas at grade you can roll your chair into and participate in whatever is happening? I don't think this kind of stair is the problem.
Schwarzman College of Computing, which unless I'm missing something is not accessible at the stair landing:
Maybe we should get rid of all stairs and only build ramp buildings from now on?
I had the same reaction. Why use the example above, which im 99% sure is the highline segment around 21st - 24th street. Those bleachers are used all the time, both by tourists and locals alike. They are designed so that accessible seating positions are provided on either side, as are all of the railroad benches along the highline route. There are much bigger accessibility questions at the highline than this, mainly how narrow it gets in many areas, particularly in the 30th St range. But the entire length of it is accessible, with multiple elevators along the route. Its not clear the author has an idea of what would constitute a better model. If they were looking for a truly problematic bleacher seating, they should have brought up the example of the new Hunter's Point library, which has entirely secluded inaccessible bleacher seating on it.
Bleacher stairs work when the space is already awesome. It doesn't work when the stairs are The Thing, usually taking away from space you are trying to make nice.
My thinking behind it has been that stairs take up a great deal of space, so if you need them you may as well have fun with them. Of course it's dumb to ruin a perfectly good room with a random set of bleacher stairs that are obviously the "thing" and don't accomplish much else, but I think a big part of the appeal behind bleacher stairs is that they can provide multiple functions in a single package. Combining vertical circulation (when needed) with seating can make a great deal of sense in a lot of contexts.
So long as an elevator is provided as an accessible alternative, and the staircase doesn't hold additional programming that someone in a wheelchair simply wouldn't be able to take advantage of (like the hunters point library), I don't really see what the problem is.
Access issues aside for a moment—the major objection is that these things simply aren't used and serve little purpose. And even if they are used, do they really add that much worthwhile? A bunch of people just sitting around? What is the message here?
What other worthless tropes have we been stuck with?
Like the Spanish steps in Rome. Glad they banned sitting on them, because they were just awful.
The problem is not the type, it's the bad design. Maybe ban shit designers instead of worrying that there are too many bench/stairs, or its evil twin, the infamous stramp?
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