Stairways To....Where?

I moved into a new place a bit ago.
And I thought it was pretty normal, with the normal stack of stairs.
You know where you just end up going in a tight cork screw down or up stairs, circling and circling so you get dizzy if you take too many.

My building isn't all normal though.
No, by my apartment there are stairs leading to the top floor.
No other stairs around.

 

Just a set of stairs right there leading up to the other floor.

A couple of weeks later, I realized. Beyond my apartment at the end of the hallway is a sign on a door saying that there were more stairs behind it.  
 

 

 

So one day, tired of having to go the wrong direction to get to my car via those spiral steps in the center of the building.

I walked past the top floor stairs, to the door to get to those stairs and see where I ended up.

I only made it down one level.

Again, I was faced with the same problem.

 

 
No more stairs in sight.
Had I ended up in some dead end?
Nope.
For there, at the end of another hallway, was another one of those doors announcing that they had stairs behind them.

Amazingly enough, for the rest of the journey down to the outside...the stairs followed the predictable cork screw manner.

 

But it makes me wonder.
Who's brilliant idea was it to build a stairway from the top floor to the bottom floor that looks like this:

I mean...if there was a fire....
I would much rather run down
This set of stairs.

In a panic.

 

 

Then the other set. Where the stairs are spread apart.

Yep.
Weird stairs at my new place.
I wonder what other hidden secrets are here.