If you’ve never fallen or tripped on stairs, consider yourself super lucky. You might not realize it but there’s a lot going on in our brains and bodies when we use a flight of stairs. I’m talking about straightforward, simple stairs. Not the wonky, nonsensical ones designed by blindfolded ostriches.

“Stairs lend themselves to fantasy and artistic aspirations and it’s easy to get carried away and forget about functionality!” said world-renowned designer and architect, David Rockwell in an exclusive interview with Bored Panda. Rockwell is the Founder and President of the Rockwell Group and has won several awards, so he knows a thing or two about what works and what doesn’t.

Rockwell told us that sometimes what appears to be a staircase design “fail” is actually a carefully planned masterpiece. “My favorite ‘stairway to nowhere’ is in the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, designed by Morris Lapidus,” he said. “The stairs actually did lead to a mezzanine coat room, but their main purpose was to allow guests to take a moment on the way down to pose and show off—to see and be seen. The stairs provide the perfect ‘curtain up’ moment.”

But of course, there will always be stairs that provide the perfect falling down moment.

Dr. Shirley Rietdyk is a professor of kinesiology at the University of Purdue in the United States. An expert in the study of human movement, balance, trips and falls. She’s spent years scrutinizing the science of slips and slides on stairs – accidents that many of us might put down to clumsiness, environmental factors, or sometimes even, bad staircase design.

She chatted to Bored Panda to take us through the lesser known steps of climbing stairs. It turns out the journey of a thousand miles begins even before you take a single step.

“When approaching a staircase in the home or the community, you will visually scan it before you reach the staircase. The visual scanning provides information regarding the location of the first step, as well as the height and depth of the treads, the number of steps, and location of handrails (if present),” said Rietdyk.

“This visual information is used to guide foot placement and foot elevation to ensure that you climb the stairs safely. The visual information is gathered before you reach the staircase, and the visual information is updated as you climb/descend the stairs. Thus, it is important that vision is not impaired or obstructed."

She warned that carrying large items like laundry baskets, or moving boxes adds an extra level of risk.

Now throw in some bad stair design and imagine your brain doing backflips, as it tries to decipher an optical illusion of hieroglyphics, before translating it into a language your limbs can understand.

To avoid getting tripped up, Dr. Rietdyk says it’s important to remain focused when using a staircase. Especially if they’re badly built. “Take your time, make sure your hands are available (i.e., not carrying something, not in your pockets), ensure you look at the staircase, avoid distractions (phone, texting, conversation, activities in environment that draw your attention), turn the lights on, use the handrail, wear reasonable footwear,” she told Bored Panda.

Reasonable footwear, you say? Definitely time to ditch those 7-inch Marc Jacobs Kiki boots. Unless of course you want to be like this model who took the fall for fashion.

Rietdyk was recently part of a team of researchers that spied on students using staircases on campus. The team wanted to find out why young adults are the third most likely age group to fall on stairs (after toddlers and the elderly) – and why young women are much more likely than their male counterparts to take a tumble. The study, published in 2023, notes “although less than 1% of the waking day is spent on stairs, 12% of falls in young adults occurred while navigating stairs.”

The team used hidden cameras to monitor risk behaviors associated with falls. These included wearing inappropriate footwear, not using handrails, skipping steps, using electronic devices and other distracting activities, not keeping hands free to grasp the handrail in the case of a stumble, and not looking at feet.

Of the more than 2,400 students observed, all those who lost their balance were not watching their step. 69% of those who fell exhibited two or more risky behaviors. Young women made up around 80% of the risk-takers. And it was about more than wearing designer heels or platform boots. The research revealed that women were less likely to use the handrail, more likely to be carrying something and more likely to be chatting to someone while walking.

Since Rietdyk emphasized the importance of being able to see where you’re going, those wearing spectacles might think they have a leg up on others when it comes to navigating a difficult flight of stairs. But don’t be fooled, said Rietdyk. “Bifocals or progressive adaptive lenses will distort the view of the staircase; if you wear bifocals, tilt your head down to ensure you are looking at the stairs through the middle/upper portion of your lenses.”

Scrolling through these images, it would seem not much thought goes into the design of stairs. But there’s actually (supposed to be) a whole psychology behind staircase design. Shape, size, color and lighting all play a part in how we navigate stairs, how we feel while using them – and whether we even choose to use them.

“Often the stairs we design are sculptural, monumental centerpieces. Because of my interest and background in theater, I like to think about stairs as a central part of the choreography of a space,” said Rockwell. “Stairs really have a huge transformative power in terms of defining how we enter and exit a space, which makes them an intriguing design challenge. And the user’s experience and interaction with architecture and interior design elicits emotion in the process.”

Calming or earthy colors promote a sense of relaxation for a slow meander up or down a flight of stairs. Bright yellows, oranges or reds keep us on high alert and get us moving faster - useful in the event of an emergency evacuation.

With that in mind, let’s just hope you never have to flee a building using any of the stairs pictured here.

Rietdyk has this warning should you encounter – and choose to use – a strange looking staircase: “Often, the first time someone uses an unusual staircase, they will be extra careful. But with repeated use of the staircase and they don’t slip, trip, stumble or fall, they may become over confident, and then pay less attention, walk faster, leave the lights off, etc.”

One of my most spectacular falls happened many years ago. Let’s call it my student days (or nights). So spectacular was that stumble that it’ll likely live rent-free in the shadows of my mind until my dying days. I’d gone out to play pool with a group of friends. The place was popular but had a never-ending stairway to hell. What felt like over a hundred of those old, creaky wooden steps with some twists and turns thrown in for good measure. And barely any lighting – for chaotic effect. I guess we figured the night was worth the flight. So up we went.

But what goes up must come down… And when I say “come down”, what I mean is I made it halfway (semi-gracefully), before my foot missed a beat and my ass took a beating. I bounced the rest of the way down – all the way out onto the sidewalk. Luckily for me, no major injuries were reported, save for a bruised bum - and a broken ego.

While the primary purpose of stairs is to get us from point A to point B (on our feet), there’s a whole other level to them many of us might not even realize.

David Rockwell calls stairs ”a form of art”. And is there such a thing as bad art? We’ll leave that for you to decide.

In his Ted Talk, “The Hidden Ways Stairs Shape Your Life”, Rockwell described how stairs shape our movement and emotions: “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," he told the audience, before adding, "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.”

So, if you happen to take a tumble on the stairs after drinks at your local bar, you have our blessing not to blame it on the alcohol.

Provided you weren’t engaging in any other risky behavior, blame it on the stairs. Obviously. They should have understood the assignment and encouraged you to walk at a slow and steady pace.