alright folks - you have until midnight pacific time on 11/16 to snag my book, Building For People, for 50% off. grab an extra for your favorite mayor, council member, or legislator! and not just mine - numerous other @islandpress.bsky.social books are on sale. islandpress.org/books/buildi...

The Reason Foundation is latest organization promoting better housing policy through single-stair code reform. reason.org/commentary/t...

Pro-Housing Pittsburgh: Removing the two-staircase requirement in the building code is key to tackling Pittsburgh's housing crisis by lowering construction costs, unlocking smaller lots, and allowing more family-sized units @prohousingpgh.org www.prohousingpgh.org/blog/policy-...

This is a great article by @matthutchins.bsky.social on how Seattle’s new missing middle allowances can lead to a broad range of new housing options on lots previously sequestered for 1 single home. medium.com/@matthutchin...

🏠 Denver just got closer to building more housing! This week, City Council's seven member Housing Committee unanimously advanced a bill allowing 5-story single-stair buildings in a decisive 7-0 vote. Final Full Council vote: 11/24 Effective Date: 12/31/25

The next pro-housing state eyeing architectural innovation through single-stair reform: Utah kslnewsradio.com/utah/small-b...

For decades, a prime but isolated corner parking lot at 4th & Broadway in Denver's Baker neighborhood was too small for traditional development. Thanks to Denver's forthcoming single-stair code updates, KGA Architects is proposing a 5-story single-stair apt on this "forgotten lot"

Why do builders put up giant McMansions, when zoning allows a fourplex? TLDR: A host of regulations make fourplexes lose money. I read the eye-opening report. Now I'm looking forward to the podcast.

brb, I'm heading out for Guatemala City for the weekend www.airbnb.co.nz/rooms/227059...

this building's floorplate is nearly half as wide as the typical new build in seattle today www.baunetz-architekten.de/studiovlay/8...

TerraEsperanza in Guatemala City shows what’s possible with the flexibility of single-stair design — a vibrant, 10-story mixed-use building on a small lot. Designed by Mexico City's Legorreta + Legorreta, the project floats above the grade plane and provides a variety of unit sizes.

AIA Tennessee Single-Stair Design Competition Finalist: Lightframe A new type of living in Knoxville. The building is centered around a central concrete core with the basic circulation needs, one stair and an elevator. Living spaces are suspended from the concrete core with steel platforms.

"States Advance Single-Stairway Reforms to Expand Housing" see also- •Small Single-Stairway Apartment Buildings Have Strong Safety Record •Single-Stair as a Path to More Affordable, Diverse, and Sustainable Housing www.pew.org/en/research-...

in q&a, the kelsey's allie cannington mentions they are excited about single stair and elevator reform - and mention how it can help get elevators into smaller projects. wow. cc @edmendoza.bsky.social @stephenjacobsmith.com @markasaurus.bsky.social thekelsey.org/learn-center...

The second egress stair in modern missing-middle housing is like your appendix; It's a remnant from long ago that no longer serves a purpose and sometimes creates real problems.

1pm, Tuesday, 11/4, Denver's City Council's Housing Committee will hear 15-minutes of public testimony on single-stair building code amenmdents. Sign up to testify here- www.denvergov.org/Government/A...

Tadao Ando's multifamily circulation strategy: Scissor stairs At the 8-story, 53-luxury unit Dubai Armani Beach Residences, the award-winning architect will utilize an exit strategy not allowed in US building code where units are clustered around vertical stair and elevator cores.

Single-stair buildings up to 6 stories are legal in Baltimore City! Headed to Mayor Scott's desk for signature.

I asked Colorado’s affordable housing leaders what size projects they’re building during a panel on single-stair housing at the Housing Colorado conference. The answers made one thing clear: Colorado has missing middle housing problem. "Abundance means all types of housing typologies"

After TO Council passed a motion indicating the City was open to Alternative Solution Proposals for a single stair in apts up to 4 storeys, I applied for a single stair in a 3 storey Part 9 6plex. I’m told it’s the first one, so it’s a test case. Here’s how it’s going. #singlestair #sixplex

439 Am Tacheles, Berlin A 10-building mixed-use enclave w/ high-end housing designed by Herzog & de Meuron. Units are characterized by a focus on minimalist design and diverse layouts that cater to a luxury market. Single stair circulation allows full depth plans for ample daylight.

AIA Tennessee Single-Stair Design Competition Finalist: SEED BLOCK (a prototype for block-scale growth) proposing a repeatable, flexible, six-story mixed-use protype tailored to grow within Knoxville's typical 50'x100' lot dimensions.

I've been on two calls today with fire safety professionals where the topic was the safety of single-stair buildings. On both calls, somebody was driving while on the call – one a firefighter, the other a fire protection engineer.

As brought to my attention by a Strong Towns article by @dpherriges.bsky.social and posts by @dereksagehorn.bsky.social, this is Lawrence Veiller talking about the idea behind using the building code to incentivize single-family houses and discourage apartment buildings, from 1913:

Denver single-stair case study using recent changes in the city's zoning and building code to unlock 4-stories of affordable housing on a lot zoned for 3-stories. kgarch.com/4-story-sing...

Earlier this year ... I toured an apartment project under construction that has been designed for families in Redmond, Washington AMLI Redmond Way 126 Units, average size >1100 SF. 1BR+Den, 2BR+Den and 3BR units. Amenities:

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.

Good news - Safe, new apartment construction is at a 50-year high, with nearly 600,000 units in 2024 Bad news - U.S. housing stock is the oldest that it has ever been, putting residents at risk bsky.app/profile/sean...

‘Residual Income’ Study Reveals Two-Thirds of Working Age Renters Struggle to Make Ends Meet - h/t Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University

New analysis by Pew shows how modern multifamily housing built since 2000 has far lower death rates than new single family homes and older housing stock. www.pew.org/en/research-...

Denver Single-Stair Housing Challenge (2025) Challenge: Envision a way to boost housing, lower costs, & allow more light-filled, family-friendly units on small Denver lots Result: 230+ creative submissions from designers and architects around the world architecturecompetitions.com/pointaccessb...

Baltimore looks to be the next municipality to adopt single-stair reform after great advocacy work by @serviceurbanisme.bsky.social Interesting to see fire officials educating themselves on the topic and coming around to the changes after initial resistance www.baltimorebrew.com/2025/09/25/a...

it's absurd that a walkup single stair building for 96 residents (and no elevator) is legal - but a 4-5 story single stair (with protected stair, shorter travel distance from apt. to stair) serving half that is not.

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

The Boston Globe Editorial Board is running a whole series on the state’s excessive building code regulation over the next three weeks – single-stair, Massachusetts’s unusually low high-rise definition, and the mess of different septic system rules www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/21/o...

St. Olavsvei Apartment Block (Norway) •Mass timber •5-stories •28 units •up to 7 units per floor •single-stair

In light of today’s news I’d like to remind you that this is a real newspaper clipping. History repeats itself when we don’t stop it.

Register to learn more about modular European construction with this live webinar featuring German architects at DETAIL Magazine's Modular Construction Congress. Presentation is in German with English subtitles. www.detail.de/de_en/modulb...

Why are single-stair buildings actually SAFER than two stair buildings in some circumstances? It seems counter intuitive… obviously, more redundancy is better, right?

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

LA’s firefighter union has come out with a four-page letter opposing single-stair buildings. I’m going to respond to a few of the points within it. 🧵

Denver Single-Stair Housing Challenge (2025) Challenge: Envision a way to boost housing, lower costs, & allow more light-filled, family-friendly units on small Denver lots Result: 230+ creative submissions from designers and architects around the world architecturecompetitions.com/pointaccessb...

Jensen Hughes won the NYS contract to conduct a single-exit study for the state code (the city already allows six stories and has a very different building code). The contract is in the amount of $331,000, and it has an end date of May 2027. wwe2.osc.state.ny.us/transparency...

Denver's KGA Studio published this great summary of the impact of Denver's upcoming single-stair building code change with an analysis of which of the city's zoning districts hold the most potential kgarch.com/single-stair...

Yes, regulatory hurdles (like the building code) make affordable housing harder and more expensive to build in North America than other parts of the world. internationalfireandsafetyjournal.com/fire-codes-m...

The next Democratic president should declare that the National Emergencies Act and Article II of the Constitution allow him to: •admit D.C. and Puerto Rico as states •abolish ICE •grant citizenship to any immigrant •disband the 5th Circuit •expand the Supreme Court Seriously: Why the hell not?

Few things throw multi-family architects into a tail-spin more than pointing out: US building code does not require elevators in multi-family housing.

One of the big selling points of model building codes is that they can lead to uniform rules across the country. But this doesn’t work when almost every state/locality wants to put their own spin on things. This was one cause leading to a preemptive federal building code for manufactured housing.

For nearly 20 years, many European cities have used the Leipzig Charter as a guide to tackle housing, climate, and equity challenges—turning big goals into local action. What if North American cities had a housing north star like the Leipzig Charter? ec.europa.eu/regional_pol...

want to know why point access blocks are the super fruit of urbanism the world over? they unlock so much f*cking housing. literally millions of units. in every state