small projects

middleearth door

mild steel.

The front door for the safari roof
house saw form as a ceremonial
entry, a gateway for festivals
and good winds, and the gracious
welcome of guests.

The physical space for its location
was large, nine feet in width and
twelve feet high. The idea began
narrative as a door which felt like
the weight of a continent, a
timekeeper to mark nightfall and
seal passage between two worlds.

The door found pivot from bottom
and top of one edge to free it
from the side walls of its opening.
On the cantilevered edge, steel
rollers provide smooth run over a
flat curved steel plate cast into
the cement floor. Locking bolts
are run both up and down into
cylindrical sleeves accessed only
from the inside. And the door was
balanced for the lightest push to
get it moving.