BARRY

85 High St, Northcote

Visited: 10th January 2014

Design: It's amazing what a well crafted door can do to a rather boring and ugly red brick wall. The sage green door at Barry is a streamline, elegant and beautiful piece of craftsmanship. The steel powder coated beams that make up the door frame, set this door into the structure of the building. Here you have the delicate framework of the door surrounded by the heavy brickwork. It looks structurally impossible as though the brickwork would crush the door at any moment. Maybe this is where the beauty lies, in the illusion of the impossible. Aesthetically, you can not fault it. Many would disagree with me in the colour and two years ago I would have agreed but something has changed in me and sage green is speaking with me now. The gold L-shaped tubing handle with matching lock chamber compliment the green. The workmanship is impeccable with clean welding and glazing. I love the rectangular glass panels that make the door and window seem larger than what they really are. They also provide a generous view into the building upon arrival. The door had a decent weight to it that felt good on the push, the closure was a slow gentle return however a slight bang at the end. To complete the experience it would have been nice to have a subtle click on the close, I'm just being now picky now though. Empty glass panels with no good food guide stickers cluttering up the view, just a pure entry. Not even name or trading hours in view. I did enter quickly so I'm not sure if there was another main door, (I will have to return and check this) but if this is it, I loved it.

UPDATE: 9th April 2014
I have just returned to Barry and to correct my lack of observation on first entry, there was a name and trading hours on the middle window next to the handle but beautifully designed, great font and discreet. How could I ever doubt them? Points again guys for allowing the door to be, THE DOOR.

Door resistance: 3

Closure mechanism: Hidden Hydraulic arm

Draft: Minimal

Squeak level: 0

Change return time: 49 sec

EVEREST INDIAN RESTAURANT 

& WINE BAR

85 Station St, Fairfield

Visited: 7th January 2014

Design: Well, 2013 was a great year for doors, with so many amazing designs and variations. I am really excited about what 2014 will bring. What better way to start it off than with my first sliding door. There is something nice about the sliding door in that the opening space required is very minimal and the door itself practically disappears when open. The gentle sliding action is pleasing to enter and when it's a manual close the sensation of entering a building I think is heightened as you step through. With this door it was your standard aluminium framing, a design commonly found in the outer suburbs. Now this door design was not mind blowing in anyway but it held a retro childhood comfort in the colour and the ridged rows of horizontal lines that feature on the middle panel of the door. I liked the basic graphics of the directional hand next to the SLIDE DOOR sign in the centre. I did find the layout of the glass panels were very cluttered with the classic credit card (3 for mastercard) accepted stickers and The Age Good Food Guide references along with trading hours, phone numbers, menus and catering details. You kind of expect that with Indian restaurants though. I liked the red and blue of the neon that was replicated in reverse on the street sign. It appears that someone thought the window needed some wrapping paper design to fill in the gaps but only had one roll and ran out part of the way through. Good attempt though. The opening action of the slide was like an Indian train heading from Lucknow to Darjeeling, rickety but romantic in its journey. The sound was pleasant to the ear. There is little mystery here as you are given a full view of the interior. I liked the safety aspect of the BEWARE OF THE TRAINS mosaic on the footpath as the restaurant is located close to the crossing of Fairfield station.

There is a confusing duality with the signage in the fact that Mt Everest is located in Nepal, but hey, Australia stole Russell Crowe and Crowded House from New Zealand.       

Door resistance: 3

Closure mechanism: Manual

Draft: Minimal

Squeak level: 1

Change return time: 44 sec

THE AWARD IS OUT

AND THE WINNER IS.......

This will be my last entry for this year. 

Stay tuned as I will be announcing the 2013 DOOR OF THE YEAR winner.
  
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FEDERATION HUT

Razorback Track, Mt Feathertop

Visited: 12th December 2013

Design: When I started this blog I had an idealist view as to what a door should be if it was to be judged as appropriate in the search for the best door to eat behind. Images such as The Havannah, St Ali North or Friends of Mine, (all mentioned previously in earlier posts of this blog) filled my mind and guided me in my search. Along this quest to find the perfect door, I have slowly discovered that a door can come in many forms such as, classical, grand, standard or no door at all. Another thing I have learnt, is that beauty can come from the most amazing craftsmanship where every single detail is painstakingly sweated over and refined to form perfection and yet beauty can also come from the simplest of practical forms. Now, I know this door goes against everything that this blog represents, considering this was not a business and there was no money exchanged for change return time. Nevertheless, I was so fascinated by this door that I had to include it. My reasoning behind including this door was, I still ate behind it and it was a beautiful door in design and functionality. 

What was it that drove me to include this hut door in the Victorian Alps, you may ask?

Let me just say there was a duality within this door where it revealed and yet concealed the mystery of what the hut contained. There was a sense of romance and intrigue in its design and appearance. It provided a feeling of protection from the enduring harsh elements such as snow and gail force winds that hikers are faced with in this terrain. This was practical engineering at its finest, made from local timber, the door handle was a section of gnarled tree branch, crafted to fit flush against the door. Nothing feels better in the hand than natural materials such as wood, especially when the wood has worn back to a highly polished surface due to continuous use over an extended period of time. A result of thousands of hands grasping and pushing in the same area to seek protection. The next feature was the locking system, a simple piece of dowel that slid within a routed chamber. The most amazing feature of the door was the self closing mechanism in which a piece of wire at the top of the door was latched to the top so that when the door was opened the wire was twisted within a closed chamber behind the door. The tension put on the wire then forced the door closed as it released the tension. Pure genius. The door had a relaxing squeak on the open and close and was surprisingly well sealed from the cold.

There is no better place than this door to represent the very nature and probably the origins of the title of this blog than a hikers hut where someone has yelled at fellow hikers when the door has been left open or too long, 

"Were you born in a tent?"

Door resistance: 1

Closure mechanism: Self closing wire spring

Draft: Minimal

Squeak level: 2

Change return time: 0 sec