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
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?"
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
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