Rybczynski on Detail
Stairs and their handrails, can be the ultimate test of your architect's abilities. I can't tell you the amount of time I have spent on projects hashing out the details of a handrail. You have architectural sensibilities careening into building codes, wrapped in the enigma that stairs (and their handrails) are used differently by different people. And then to get it all to work within the budget...
Here is a site in Slate, by Witold Rybczynski, providing some great prototypical solutions. BTW, if you haven't read his book The Most Beautiful House in the World, I highly recommend it, particularly to understand the digressions, detours, and distractions in designing and building a home of one's own.
