Re:I always wonder. (Score 1)

That actually makes sense, the stairwell, not the bathroom... (though I've seen switches/patch panels mounted just below [or above] the ceiling in rest rooms too.) Stairwells (at least in the US) are supposed to be built to higher architectural specifications. (Big words for thicker, fireproof walls and doors.) I've been in a lot of buildings where the ground floor stairwell has a large "wasted" space. I was told by an EMT friend that this is so that firefighters have a safe place to stage inside a building or for occupants to huddle if there is a problem and you can't get out the emergency door yet.