Just as I expected, always looking for some crappy explanation to justify your answer. If at all the stairwell of this building was the one facing us, you would notice a vertical strip of light from the ground floor to the top most floor. And also, your theory explains that the stairs have low intensity lighting. Didn't know it's so low that one cannot even notice that that is a stairwell at night. Your building is of clear blue glass and if the stairwell is the one facing us like you said, one would have easily noticed the lighting pattern from bottom to top.
"stairway lighting is not directed outwards and If you are familiar with the inverse square law, you’ll realize why most of that light diffuses the further you go, away form the source. "
So if the stairwell of this building is the one facing us, you want to tell us that the landing and flights of the stairs do not have light completely at night since light is diffused inwards?
"In other words, stairway lighting is not directed outwards" - But you said the stairwell is facing us? So that means the landing and flight of the stairs are also facing us. So you are saying that the flight and landing are illuminated inwards that is why we cannot see any light? If the stairwell is facing us, the landing and flight are facing us and they are illuminated. One could have seen the light pattern in all floors, no matter how low the intensity. Or would you mind explaining to us how you can internally illuminate a stairwell that is on the side and it becomes so unnoticeable that you cannot even see a glow of light. This building is empty and your theory just doesn't make sense
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You say the stairwell is lit with low intensity lighting but only a bunch of windows have light. Or maybe I should book an appointment with my optician.