How-to build a brick masonry staircase on a flat arch in 38 pictures

Project: Client: Architect: Working Drawings by: Amar Bari at Santiniketan (2007-2009) Bengal Greenfield Dulal Mukherjee Laurent Fournier Hassan Fathy

1. Inspirations
Sarrasin Vaults

Construction of a staircase on voute sarrasine in France with hollow clay tiles and Gypsum(Plaster of Paris) by Pierre-jean Gehannin - http://www.gehanninmarbre-carrelage.com/

Nubian vaults built with adobe in Egypt (in Gourna: a Tale of Two Villages, by Hassan Fathy)

2. Construction sequence

1. Basic equilibrium

2. Cross-section through the stairs

3. Algebraic checking: load

4. Assumptions, reactions

5. Equilibrium

6. Checking the first landing

7. Equilibrium at the wall base

8. Bottom slab reinforcement

9. Checking the thrust lines at service load and at the point of collapse; Load cases and modes of failure

10. First brick of the Nubian Vault

11. Third layer

12. Fifth layer

13. Sixth layer: joined

14. Finishing with a round arch

15. Closing the Nubian vault

16. Second Nubian vault

17. Closing the Nubian vault

18. Day 2: Marking the steps

19. Shuttering

20. Starting the flat arch

21. Second layer

22. Notice the camber of the ply

23. Third layer

24. 12th layer

25. Starting the other side

26. Notice the steps are completed

27. Shifting side again

28. End of the second day (with line of thrust superimposed on the photograph)

29. Joining the two sides

30, 31. Two masons and one helper are required for the entire staircase

32. Closing the pointed arch

33. The third Nubian vault

34. Closing the vault

35, 36, 37, 38. Et voila!

3. References

Galileos parallelogram of forces and Epure de Mry (Above from Arthur Vierendeels cours de stabilit des constructions, 1907)

Jacques Heyman: The Stone Skeleton, 1966, Cambridge 1995

Heyman summarizes his master safe theorem of plasticity as: if the designer can find a way in which the structure behaves satisfactorily, then the structure itself certainly can. Tip for flat arches: Despite Heymans assumption of infinite strength of masonry elements, when tracing the line of thrust for checking against ultimate load in flat arches, it is imperative to remain within the middle half, to avoid failure by crushing of the material (outline of proof on the left). As usual, try to keep the line of thrust within the middle third for service load. In any case always check the stress, particularly when using brick or adobe.