Well here stairways also need to be usable in case of emergency, especially fire. Everything has fire codes that must be observed, we frigging don’t call a stairway an emergency stairway just because it’s legal. AFAIK even if you have 3, they ALL need to be according to safety protocols.
Also AFAIK we need to have at least 2 “emergency” stairways already above 2 floors.
Buildings with just one emergency exit stairway are capped at three stories in San Francisco. Anything taller requires two stairwells.
That text makes little sense, because if there is only one stairway, that’s the friggin stairway, and not an “emergency” stairway.
I know most American buildings have elevators even if they only have 2 floors, but it’s weird to call a stairway that is often faster to use, when it’s just a few floors, an “emergency” stairway, just because it’s the only option when the elevator doesn’t work.
Especially if the elevator and stairway are in connected shafts, it’s quite obviously not enough to only have 1 stairway, there needs to be a 2nd stairway with it’s own separate shaft in case of fire, because you can’t jump out the windows at 4 stories height.
Who says it can’t be aesthetic and be within regulation?
AFAIK it’s just generally more expensive.