Image by Neillwphoto
Time was when a door was just something you put in a hole. Times have changed. Contemporary architects now routinely achieve highly original room effects with statement entrances that deliver radical and practical innovations in their design. And the means to achieve that design sensitivity is increasingly available to us all.
Traditional wood is still the overwhelming material of choice, but judicious use of glass and metal can signify a space as radically styled before you’ve even crossed the threshold. Architects such as the Cornerstone Practice in Austin, Texas, routinely riff on the theme of contrasting surface textures – particularly unconventional melds of wood and glass – to sharpen up the expressly contemporary feel that that is their hallmark.
Likewise, the Seattle-based, David Vandervort studio uses extensive glass-walling in their work. In the process they regularly deliver eye catching mis-matches between a transparent glass wall surrounding a solid wooden door. Encased in glasswork, the organic quality of the wood stands out as a signature marker for the texture which is elsewhere reduced to a mere sheen.
In the UK, the Ilkley-based Niche Design partnership of Chris and Catherine Hunt share this keen eye for a contrast. Their preference is for counterpoint – the traditional rough stone that dominates their Yorkshire Dales locale renders their imaginative use of the rigid linearity of glass and steel all-the-more striking
Image by Somerset Hills Doors & Millwork
As Chris points out, once you have got to grips with the physical limitations of the space you are dealing with – normally a variation on four walls, a floor and a ceiling – it is the fixtures and the fittings that will either mark it out or mark it down.
Online suppliers Todd Doors, The Door Store and doorsworld.co.uk are amongst a new generation of specialist door suppliers to have made this design sensitivity accessible to every style-conscious living room in the country. The humble door is no longer quite so humble. What these websites are offering is the means to achieve the overtly modern aesthetic that cutting edge that architects sometimes strive for years to achieve.
For those of us with the budget and the opportunity to commission a complete building project the fittings will be delivered as part and parcel of a fully integrated grand design. For the rest of us, those details represent a key area for attention.
Internal doors as much as external access points represent opportunities to put a contemporary stamp on a room, irrespective of its dimensions. And as the UK’s housing stock is gradually restyled according to 21st century tastes, it is the humble door that is often the first solid declaration of a commitment to the new aesthetic. Furniture and carpets can only achieve their effects if they are complemented by the fundamentally more imposing features of the room.
A standard door measures six foot six inches by two foot six (1981mm x 762mm). That makes it an unavoidably imposing and perhaps even the dominant visual feature within a room. If it conveys a modern aesthetic and a contemporary feel then the room will be energised with that 21st century vibe. If sense of the modern is lacking, no amount of soft furnishing effort will recover it. You could say that the successful styling of your space hinges on how you resolve that one fundamental issue.
