Audity Haider - First Prize - Bangladesh

Traditional carved door with metal hardware reflecting the crafts and techniques of Bangladesh by Audity Haider

"Traditionally, doors of the Indian subcontinent were made out of wood, often having intricate hand-carvings as ornamentation and were fitted with metal hardware. Similarly, for this project, I imagined a wooden door with ornate carvings of flower motifs fitted with brass hardware of similar floral details. Rather than a door knob, the traditional doors often had a door hasp and lock, which is what I also incorporated in my design, along with embellished brass door knockers and door handles. The frame of the door is also intricately decorated and indicates a hand-carved house number. Meanwhile, the cornice provides protection to the door while elevating its elaborate design. "

Audity Haider - First Prize - Bangladesh

Traditional carved door with metal hardware reflecting the crafts and techniques of Bangladesh by Audity Haider

"Traditionally, doors of the Indian subcontinent were made out of wood, often having intricate hand-carvings as ornamentation and were fitted with metal hardware. Similarly, for this project, I imagined a wooden door with ornate carvings of flower motifs fitted with brass hardware of similar floral details. Rather than a door knob, the traditional doors often had a door hasp and lock, which is what I also incorporated in my design, along with embellished brass door knockers and door handles. The frame of the door is also intricately decorated and indicates a hand-carved house number. Meanwhile, the cornice provides protection to the door while elevating its elaborate design. "

Envel Ollivier - Second Prize - France

Project for a Breton door and details of the hardware by Envel Ollivier

‘The sculpture of this Breton door will remind our descendants of the legend in which an ermine preferred to face the dogs that were tracking it, rather than soiling itself in the mud, thus giving birth to our motto: ‘Rather death than soiling’. The door will be engraved with sand bindweed, which slows down the inexorable advance of the Breton dunes. As for the hardware, it will be engraved with gorse from the local moors. The knocker will be forged like a Celtic torque, and the key will represent a Celtic cross adorned with knots, in keeping with tradition’.

‘I wanted to design a door that represented my region, Brittany, in terms of the materials used, the traditional techniques used and the ornamentation.
techniques used and the ornamentation. The door will face south, in keeping with tradition,
and will be set in a frame of granite, a local stone. The door itself is made from local oak.

The upper part is made up of 2 carved wooden panels. The ermine on the right and the Breton spaniel on the left represent Brittany's motto: ‘Kentoc'h mervel eget bezan saotret’ or ‘Rather die than be defiled’. It comes from a day when the Duchess Anne of Brittany, while hunting, saw an ermine, being stalked by dogs, preferring to die than get dirty by crossing a muddy pond. Fascinated, the duchess let it live and made the ermine her emblem.

Between these two wooden panels is a spinning wheel. This is a traditional motif that recurs on Breton furniture, made from turned wood. The centre of the wheel, where the symbolic ermine is located, is 2.345m high. This measurement comes from the dates on which Brittany was founded: 400 and 938 AD. If we divide the former date by the latter, we find exactly 2.345.

On the lower part of the door are 4 wooden panels decorated with sand bindweed.

These plants are found in the dunes of the Breton
Breton coastline. They help to fix the dunes and are found here as a symbol of stability against the ravages of time.
symbol of stability in the face of time, which sweeps everything away.

Finally, there's the hardware. The door handle represents a
bindweed flower. Underneath, the lock is decorated with
with gorse, a plant with yellow flowers and green thorns found in the
found on the Breton moors.
The knocker, meanwhile, is inspired by Celtic Breton torques. The
both ends, the dog and the ermine confront each other, in reference to the legend.
the legend.
Finally, I've drawn the end of a key. On it is a Celtic cross
cross, symbolising the union between the Celtic and Catholic religions that
existed in Brittany. The centre is decorated with Celtic knots, and these
throughout the region.

João Batista - Third Prize - Portugal

"My two entries are two different doors, both following the built traditions in my country, in a more classical and vernacular fashion.
Both entries are original designs, but I took inspiration from doors I have seen through my tours around my homeland (Portugal).

The first one is a door in Sintra, with a romantic archway with limestone blocks arranged and sculpted in a picturesque interpretation of a rusticated arch. The wooden door has three intricately carved panels, two forged iron hinges with vernacular motifs, as well as a door handle on top of an escutcheon (see detail drawing n1).

The second one is a colored pencil drawing of a Renaissance Door, here the doorway is composed of a simple classical granite frame, with a detail very common in northern Portugal during the XVI century, it being the suave curves instead of a sharp angle around the inner part of the doorway. The door itself is composed of various panels with complex geometrical lines, ending in a diamond, another typical motif found in renaissance architecture. The wood is painted green, with forged iron heads that hold up the massiveness of the door. The door knocker, inserted in a escutcheon, also turns, letting the bolt unlock the door after the key is turned, a mechanism found in every part of the country, but now unfortunately largely abandoned, which is a shame since I find it very practical, satisfying and gives an extra layer of security."

Servando de la Rosa - United Kingdoms

Design for a new drawing room door in London by Servando de la Rosa (UK)

"In the same way Georgian builders and craftsmen applied pattern books to construct a beautiful door, a handsome hall or an ingenious frieze, the design for this door has been composed following several pattern books. All of its elements have been taken from architecturally commended precedents: who said a wood carving on a bed in Hampton Court Palace, or a plaster moulding at Kings College, Cambridge, couldn’t lead to a brass knob, or a door carving?

In a magpie-like way, the door is composed of various fragments from London townhouses, palaces and other buildings. There is no use reinventing the wheel when we already have such inestimable wealth across the length and breadth of Britain.

Just as a building responds to its context, a door must respond to its location. The following design has been conceived to be in a new Georgian townhouse in London, one such that Quinlan Terry or Robert Adam might design.

The door opens into a drawing room. Its playful curved design offers an analogy of the two worlds it separates: a concave face represents the drawing room, to which the occupants can withdraw for more privacy, while its convex one opens up to guests as open arms to the much more publicly inclined great chamber.

The design has been conceived as simple in form but with very concentrated ornamentation in specific locations that emphasise its importance in the house. Its material composition is brass for the furniture, and well-seasoned hardwood painted in green with gilded detailing."

Lukas Weidner - USA

"The door serves to both distinguish and unite separate realms. A great door may become a portal, reconciling both inside and outside, giving definition and human passage between the two realms.

The proportion of the door, as any architectural element, must respond to the proportions of man both functionally and aesthetically. This door asks that one engage with it in fullness. The great height pulls the spirit upward. The narrow door panels compel one to open both sides at once, a grand and acrobatic exercise awakening our perception of the passage. Robust timbers, articulate hardware and natural, opaque finish reveal nothing of what lies beyond, but rather demands a bodily venture to cross over and know more.

This design pays homage to Pennsylvania Dutch culture where simple geometric patterns and symbols are commonly placed on barn buildings to bless it and protect against evil spirits. These “hex signs” feature aesthetics unique to the region with many colors and symbols possessing specific meaning and magic power. The four-pointed star is believed to bring good luck.

This door motif honors the architect as the archetypal magician, the principal intermediary between the world of the real and physical and the world of the possible. The Latin inscription “UT SUPRA, SIC INFRA” translates to “as above, so below”, a well-known Hermetic script. Here, the universe is seen as whole, harmonious, and that the celestial plane corresponds to the earthly. Through this lens, the heavens and earth, or spirit and body, are united."

Johan Recén Larsson - Sweden

Ernst Christian Efvergren - Sweden

"As per the directions of the competions I as a participant were to find inspiration from my native country; Sweden.
Sweden as a small northern country has allways been a follower rather than trendsetter when it comes to art and architecture. When it comes to classical, or traditional architecture in the late 18th and early 19th century the style of the french were pretty much the sole authority, except for the
english(Robert Adam etc.).

For the era that inspires me the most, it has therefor been rather hard, if not impossible to find something uniqely Swedish. I begun my reasearch and came upon an old Swedish door, probably from the 16th or 17th century which got me a bit intrigued."

"The door, originating from the northern region of Dalarna had a distinct arcade or niche ornamentation in the top panel, with two adorning rosettes. A quite distinct design that I recalled
from various architecture here in Sweden, especially frequent in the 1920s."

Edgard Jegers - Sweden

"The door is made out of wood. It features all the 25 heraldries of the 25 Swedish provinces. It would have these arms all painted in their correct colors, making for a very colorful composition. The framing is of a classicist nature, not following any particular order, taking inspiration from the Swedish 16th century renaissance style. "

Lucas Marti Guitera - Spain

"The aim was to design a door following the traditions of each country. Being from Spain the possibilities were vast so I inspired myself on the style set by my regions' most important building: The Monastery of El Escorial. The sober architecture of granite is just decorated by geometrical doors made out of solid wood, which imply a high number of nails on the other side to attach the carved panels to the wooden frame. These nails also generate an interesting decoration by themselves. It is very common for these doors to have openings above them with little shutters so as to let sunlight inside in winter and let heat outside in summer. Normally those would have some metal bars to prevent robberies, which I have decided to decorate with an intricate forged iron pattern, which was also common in Spain until more or less recently. As for the decoration in itself, I decided to make it as if the door was the entrance to a Jesuit school, which are quite common and popular still today here in Spain, giving the forged iron the sigil and emblems of this order."

Levin Plump - Germany

"I chose to go with a design that is in many details linked to my heritage Hamburg. The Door consists of three layers. First there is a frame with columns and two decorations. On the bottom you can see a pattern of two fish which can be found on a tile in Hamburg‘s Elbtunnel. On the top you can see engravings of Lions, which are part of the Emblem of the Senate of Hamburg.
The second layer is full of decorations. There are waves that show Hamburgs connection to the sea and shipping. In the middle you can see the emblem of Hamburg with a knights helmet again surrounded by waves.
The third layer is the actual door. You can see a pattern of waves again with an angel looking over a lifebelt. This pattern honours the work of lifeguards who save many people each year from drowning in Northern Germany. The door itself is inspired by a grand woodden door from Hamburg‘s city hall."

Anaïs Pautot - France

Virgil Declercq - Belgium

"The inspiration for this mechanism comes from the Gaspar-Thibaut villa in Charleroi.

This door has the particularity of opening diagonally, with leaves that slide into the thickness of the wall. The left part on supports on the ground, swings to the right to meet the second part. As for this second part, it slides on the ground to wedge itself into the gap in the wall diagonally. The appearance is deceptive from the outside when the door is closed. It is the brass elements with a rather dynamic floral motif that indicate part of the subterfuge.

The exterior frame is raised in height by small floral pinnacles, they refer to the finesse, precision and dynamism of the work."

Riccardo Buratti - Belgium

Louis Menia - Belgium

"The subject of this competition was a challenge for me, since I have lived in eight very different places during my life, from Martinique to Brussels, via Paris and Milan. I therefore have no particular attachment to a specific place, and so I looked differently. I thus drew on my experiences and my origins to design this door. Having always lived in the city, it was obvious to me to design a door with an urban character. My mother being French and my father the son of a Berber immigrant, I set myself the goal of giving it characteristics from both cultures. It is therefore a door for a town house, tall, particularly suited to the architecture of Belgium and the North of France, where the cadastral division has resulted in the proliferation of tall and narrow terraced houses. Its height allows it to offer a transom and bring natural light into the entrance.

The door itself is simple and classic, with a single leaf, as is customary for modest houses. It is the ironwork, inspired by the craftsmanship of the Maghreb, which gives it its particularities. The grille of the impost is made of wrought iron and forms an arrangement of curves common in Kabylie. On the outside of the door are two bands of hammered bronze, one horizontal accommodating the handle and the lock, the other, vertical, a knocker, the letter slot and the peephole. The knocker and the handle are worked in pearls to provide a contrast. The peephole is closed with a small grille and is glazed. The interior ironwork brings back in small touches the hammered bronze, with the door to obstruct the peephole, the cover of the lock mechanism and the support of the handle.

This door is in no way a finished product or an achievement. It is an experiment, the beginning of an exploration in the construction of a personal architecture. An inclusive, curious and sober architecture."

Fabien Mosen - Belgium

João Tereso - Portugal

" I am from a small village where the first fully gothic building in the country was built, an incredible monastery from the XII century. The cistercian order who built it is known for a great simplicity in detail and restraint in ornamentation, something I tried to follow in this design.
For all the metal work I took Viollet-le-Duc's measured drawings as an inspiration, alongside arts and crafts projects and other references. "