Watch Your Back Plates

Behind every great doorknob is a great back plate.  Back plates are just as important as the knobs themselves, and can be just as highly designed, so if you are planning to replace your knobs you should also consider replacing the back plates. 

Why not purchase your new hardware in complete sets so that everything matches?

After all, you don’t want to have a brass doorknob situated within a copper back plate. Also, if you’re looking for an ornate Gothic-inspired door knob, it's counterpart should be the same to keep the look completely eye-catching. If you’re keeping your hardware sleek and modern then make sure that the back plate doesn’t look too old or lavish.  Thinking about these small details may seem significant, but having a stellar doorknob with an equally exquisite plate could be the secret key to making your door entrance pop.   

And while I recommend keeping the metals and designs of your doorknobs and back plates consistent with one another, perhaps you are the more adventurous type with an eye for aesthetics and a desire to make a look that’s all your own.  Go ahead and explore mixing and matching. Perhaps a highly sculptural polished chrome doorknob might sit nicely on a very basic back plate in the same finish.  Or maybe you’re looking for something regal and eccentric, and want to pair a muted dark nickel knob with an elaborately decorated and bold back plate in polished brass?

Whatever it is you are looking for when replacing your hardware, what is important to note how many options there are available for any style and in any color.  In addition, it is important not to just think about the small picture in terms of the doorknobs—but also to think about the options and varieties in the other areas of a hardware set.  Just because your installing a new back plate, does not mean it has to fade unnoticed to the background.      

Door Pulls With A Twist

The other day I visited the new Diana Student Center at Barnard College and came across its eye catching door pulls.  Before even entering the highly designed building I was already taking notice of a fine architectural detail, as each door contained a long glistening rectangular band of metal with a 180-degree twist at its center. These pulls weren’t just regular door handles for me to grip without batting an eye—they begged to be noticed.  After coming across these handles, I got to thinking about how effective unique and interesting door pulls can be, and about the potential they have to add a successful decorative element to any lacking space. 

Think about it. Every person has to notice a door handle, since he or she has to use it to enter and exit a space. Because of its daily functionality, a door handle is easy to brush off as an ordinary item, and so many people simply go for a plain and basic model. This is why users for the most part don’t remember what a doorknob looked like, since it more than likely was ordinary in the first place. But if I think about it, nine times out of ten an upscale retail store will ornament their front entrance with a more elaborate door pull, and I always can’t help but take notice.  That’s because a unique door pull is a simple and easy addition able to spruce up an overall look by adding luxury and texture to any entrance. 

Don’t just settle for an average everyday handle. Instead, I implore you to think about the endless possibilities there are available in choosing a door pull. No matter what manner or style you are designing for, I can bet there is hardware out there for you.  If you’re designing a modern interior, you might want to keep it simple and add some shine to your space with a sleek silver amorphous pull. Smooth and unornamented, these pulls are glossy and chic in their undulating shape and the way they catch the light. 

Are you more of a fan of art-deco design? Then perhaps you should go for a vertically ribbed pull, which will add some texture to your room and feel good on the door-opening hands.  Maybe you’re designing in a gothic manner, and are looking for something with heavier ornament.  Well there are plenty of styles to choose from including handles with pointed floral detailing to ones with spiraling cable designs.  There are even pulls out there for those with artistic and whimsical eyes, who are looking for the door handles that resemble nothing like they’ve ever seen. 

Heating Up

I'm always fascinated when designers are able to take mundane (and often visually unappealing) in-home necessities and turn them into decorative pieces that are absolutely breathtaking.

For me, radiators and air conditioners were eye-sore essentials that every room needed and were unfortunate sacrifices that designers made for the sake of comfortable habitation.

Then I came across the designs of Irsap, an Italian company who specializes in the design of radiators. Often, the company boldly ventures into crafting heating systems that double as fabulous pieces of modern art.

I'm currently drooling over Irsap's Medusa, shown above right, which is a steel wall-hanging system of sinewy latticed tubes enclosed in a circlular tube. Like a metallic apple pie crust, this beautiful design can hardly be recognized as a heating system unless you are overtly told.

Also worthy of notice is their Curval design, which is a trio of three vertically hanging polymer-aluminum panels that undulate like ribbons or waves. It's absolutely breathtaking. I could go on and on about several other pieces I adore, but go check out the rest of their collection and be amazed by what Irsap can do with a little metal to make your radiator museum-worthy.

Spiraling

I just came across this really cool image of a custom metal residential spiral staircase that got me thinking about the use of metals in staircases.


In fact, all kinds of things can be done with metal to create andan interesting and unique staircase for your home or even spruce up your old wooden or concrete staircase. 

Here, this gorgeous spiral oak staircase's support frame has been rendered in a stainless steel that adds a sleekness and sophistication to a rustic retreat.   

Maybe you're looking for a more upfront touch of design to your set of stairs at which guests to your home can marvel? Then why not think about installing a unique and intricate metal railing to your staircase. Check out this ornate wrought iron design that runs alongside a wooden staircase. I think it's quite stunning.

Lastly, you could go all in and design a staircase entirely out of metal.  These staircases are perfect for modern interiors--they're young, fresh, and lustrous, but also scream luxury.  Here's a cantilever steel staircase that's quite minimalist in design but is also a dazzling eye-catcher. 

Whether you're thinking of installing a new staircase in your home or a merely looking for a touch up, why not consider incorporating metal to add a little bit of elegance to your spiral.    

     

Beauty Bars

How many people want to think about those metal grab bars in bathrooms that are now becoming necessary to install for the elderly and infirm? It seems that the very idea of these functional but cringe-worthy attachments seem to put a damper on design plans.

Well recently a number of City College Of New York students decided to change this, revamped the grab bar into a functional but visually appealing device. Student designs ranged from incorporating a toilet paper dispenser into the bar to a bar that contained an ipod holder. In the end, five student designs were selected, and have subsequently gone into production, picked up by New York plumbing-supply company Blackman and architecture firm Beyer Blinder Belle. With these attractively designed grab bars, perhaps architects and designers can begin to sweat a little less when they need to make accommodations to their original designs.

Walking On Air

Talk about a soaring idea: Coverings Etc. has taken aluminum from the fuselages of waste-worthy airplanes to make what they call Bio-Luminum™ tiles. Melting the aluminum into blocks and slicing them into thin slabs, these innovative and modern tiles are completely recycled, and durable enough to be used for flooring and wall treatments. These tiles are sleek and sexy, and with their creation we will be ridding the world of massive lots devoted to airplane graveyards, one aluminum floor at a time!


In fact, metal floors are a growing idea in the industry and are a freshly elegant innovation when it comes to flooring. We're used to walking on hardwood or ceramic tiles, but how many times have you walked on smooth planks of nickel or decorated tiles of brass? Well now you can, and your floor will spruce up a room while never looking better.  Perfect for an elegant foyer, visitors will immediately notice the polished metal flooring beneath their feet, and are sure to marvel at the texture and color of such a unique feature.  


Lastly, seeing as floors take the bulk of rough treatment within a household (we do walk all over them don't we?), a metal floor will be able to stand the test of time: It's durable and won't ruin easily, and is also incredibly easy to keep clean. 


The industry of metal flooring is still just opening up and the possibilities are endless, but it's definitely worthwhile to begin thinking about customizing your own metal flooring so that you can get ahead of the game and literally walk on luxury.  

Hot & Cold

A little two-story house on Green Street has been stirring up quite a bit of heat despite its icebox exterior. Located in Brooklyn at 198 Green Street, the building underwent a daring residing in the hands of the owner, who intended to create a standout modern home. Now, 198 boasts an entirely stainless steel façade at its front that gives it a very sleek and modern feel, particularly when juxtaposed with the wooden slat homes next to it. The façade is also ornamented with a raised striated steel band that diagonally cuts the home on its surface into its two levels. Compact and metallic, the building has been cited to look like a refrigerator, garnering the property nickname “Sub-Zero House.”

After its unveiling, however, the fridge house has been stirring up a lot of controversy, pitting adoring Brooklyn residents against some violently detesting individuals. Members of the opposition claim the house now looks like an uninviting fortification, with one vocal resident claiming the owner should hang himself from one of the façade light fixtures. Others disagree, and we here admire the creativity with which the owner approached his renovation, daring to step outside the box and create a unique modern home that’s joined the pool of real estate gossip for which New York is famous in the first place. Besides, that glossy steel exterior sure looks nice in the sunlight, and that scandalously slanting band makes the building look cool—refrigerator nickname or otherwise.

Innovative Metal Architecture

How many wealthy New Yorkers can flaunt the fact that they can drive right up to their apartment? None, one would presume—until now.

Not long ago, Annabelle Selldorf of Selldorf Architects dreamed up a design for a building at 200 Eleventh Avenue which included a 15-space En-Suite Sky Garage System, literally allowing future residents to drive right into a car-lift that would take them straight up to their apartment-level garage space.

Somewhat surprisingly, Selldorf’s innovative vision got the green light, and the development now currently in construction has caught the eyes of many a passerby. With everyone in awe of the idea of parking on one’s own floor, the building has already been subject to a collection of nicknames, including “The One With The Sky Garage” and “The Glistening Tower of Parkage.”

While almost everyone’s eyes are firmly glued to this model of parking-perfection, what we’re looking at right now is the building’s construction innovations in its use of metals. The surface of the building’s base, which spans three floors, is currently being clad in durable contrasting tiles of cast gunmetal glazed terracotta. The material is a corrosion-resistant combination of bronze and zinc, is dark blue/brown gray in color, and provides the street level of the structure with a sense of inviting hospitality.

On top of this, large slabs of molded stainless steel that organically curve are framing the upper sixteen floors of the construction. Despite their still hidden placement behind scaffolding, these steel additions have already been observed in the sunlight to glisten with grace, providing New Jersey with a spectacular light show at sunset.

Responsible for the custom metallic innovation of this undulating façade is the A. Zahner Company, which located in Kansas City, Missouri, has been behind some of the greatest architectural metal finishes in its century-long existence. Can you visualize the cut-out swooping steel façade of the new Cooper Union Building at 41 Cooper Square? A. Zahner is responsible for that. Zahner has also had the opportunity to work alongside some of today’s big name starchitects including Tadao Ando, Zaha Hadid, and Frank Gehry.

To know more about one of the top go-to metal facade consulting companies in architecture, we decided to get behind the scenes of the metal façade of 200 11th Avenue and spoke with A. Zahner’s Architectural Liaison, Roger Reed, regarding the project.

In June of 2006, representatives from Selldorf Architects came to A. Zahner seeking aid to make the ideal metal design shapes they had in mind into reality. Zahner worked to alter Selldorf’s designs to perfection, noting that rather than stamp out the original components like car fenders, the route of making a mold form for each component would be far more effective.

Zahner also developed a system of attachment for the metal cladding by breaking down the building façade into three components—a vertical, a horizontal and the cruciform that intersected the two. While the vertical has a strong geometry break up the center, the horizontal element bows outward with an off-center break.

According to Architectural Liaison Roger Reed, Zahner “saw the cruciform as the key to getting the design successfully executed. That transition between the two forms [horizontal and vertical] is one of the things that defines the building.”

In terms of metal selection, Zahner presented Selldorf with several options, but knew that stainless steel would be the natural choice due to the ease and beauty with which it can be bent and fashioned. Because of the differing shapes and sections of the various components, welding, grinding and polishing out the seams were all crucial to production, and Zahner made use of their signature Angel Hair® Polish as a finish due to its reflectivity and texture.

Zahner produced many of the components for this project using robotic welding equipment, which produces consistent results with little mess and is excellent for making repeatable patterns. In addition, Zahner made heavy use of Digital Definition Technologies—using computer-modeling software that enables them to avoid wasting resources by physically building full-scale templates out of cardboard and steel.

With regards to obstacles faced during construction, Reed notes: “As with almost every project, the other trades present the biggest issues or obstacles. The cladding, in this case the metal, is usually expected to conceal the sins of those that come before us.”

If the trade responsible for concrete forms is successful in their role on the project, then it is easier for subsequent trades to come and succeed on their additions. Thus the stud framing system can then be easily placed, followed by the implementation of interior electrical and mechanical components, which are then covered by the exterior sheathing and waterproof membrane, and lastly the final exterior cladding.

“It all adds up,” Reed adds, “everybody has to understand the importance of their role because if any one of these elements are incorrectly placed, the impact can have a domino effect across the project. We always strive to communicate that philosophy to all involved.”

Regardless of any such obstacles, The A. Zahner Company’s work on 200 Eleventh Avenue is marvelous, particularly in the building’s ability to shimmer in the sunlight. Not only will future tenants of the building enjoy the luxury of parking at home, but they can also take pleasure in driving up to a glistening beauty of a structure.

A History and Overview of Metals

Overview/History of Metals Chart – A General Survey of the most common metals and their most common uses in the industry

Although we may not frequently realize it, the history of working with metals to make hardware goes far back in time, and has since its humble beginnings come a very long way. In the fashioning of basic tools, one of the first metals to be used alongside stone was copper, whose discovery has been dated to around 9000 BC. Since the aptly named Copper Age, the metal began to be mixed in Ancient Egypt with tin to create the first alloy in existence, Bronze, whose own Age eventually trickled to the western world of Europe, where Greeks and Romans extended the use of the metal in their creation of elaborate statues and art.

Prior to the discovery of iron deposits in Connecticut, Early Americans resorted to wood for the locking hatches on their doors, and only then began to produce simple wrought iron hardware for latches and hinges. As history displays, the developing country struggled with its heavy dependence on England for mass imports of bronze and brass, and gradually broke free from the country’s industrial reigns while beginning to develop distinct American metal innovations such as Colonial Georgian designs in the South and “coach latches” in Pennsylvania. In gaining independence, America called for the birth of pioneers in the manufacturing of metals, and the trade has since been at the heart of American industry.

These days, trying to navigate the wide expanse that the metals industry has flourished into is not quite as simple a feat as the Egyptians had it when they wanted a copper spear. In the constant flux of today’s industry with regards to innovation, discovery, and technology, there are numerous metals available for use, which can be infinitely combined through the creation of different alloys and the utilization of various methods of casting, forging and finishing.

To make life a little easier for you, we’re breaking it down to the basics. The following will provide you with the fundamentals you need to know about what’s out there in architectural hardware today. You’ll better understand what metals and alloys are in existence, what the similarities and differences are between them, and get an overview of the many ways in which these metals can be twisted, shaped and combined in order to suit and satisfy you.

Metal Type	Will It Rust?	Strengths	Weaknesses	Common Uses
Iron	Yes	Low cost, high compressive strength	Rusts easily, magnetized, low tensile strength	Decorative wrought iron hardware
Aluminum (natural)	No	Lightweight, resists corrosion, oxide coating prevents oxidation	Not strong enough to hold up to hard wear, oxide coating does not allow for a bright finish	Used in aluminum alloy
Aluminum (alloy)	No	Oxidation difficulties have been overcome by the anodizing process	Not as strong as other metals	Continuous hinges, thresholds, gasketing, door closer bodies
Chromium	No	Durable, rust-resistant, bright or satin finish		Used as a plating on brass, bronze, and steel, used in stainless steel alloy
Nickel	No	High polish, chemical-resistant, does not rapidly corrode	Slowly tarnishes in atmosphere and takes on a yellowish-brown cast (requires repolishing)	Used as a plating on brass, bronze, and steel
Zinc	No	Popular in the use of alloys, rust proof, low cost		Used for rustproofing iron and steel
Tin	No	Easily shaped, used as an oxidation-resistant coating material	Weak, and must be alloyed with other metals to be used structurally	Alloying element in statuary bronzes and other casting alloys
Lead	No	Malleable, ductile, and durable and resistant to corrosion	Loses form under pressure	Used in copper alloys, additive to steel to improve machinability, shielding on X-ray room doors
Copper	No	Does not corrode rapidly in the atmosphere	Turns green when exposed to air	Used in bronze and brass alloys
Brass	No	Attractive, easily worked or formed	Requires repolishing	Hinges, flush bolts, surface bolts, door pulls, push plates, stops
Bronze	No	Attractive, more resistant to wear and corrosion than brass		Hinges, lock trim, door stops, door pulls, push plates, protection plates
Steel	Yes	Can be wrought or cast into many shapes, cheaper than non-ferrous metals and stronger than iron	Rusts when unprotected, decomposes	Hinges, continuous hinges, surface bolts, lock bodies and trims, exit device chassis
Stainless Steel	Yes	Rust resistant, can be easily finished to a high luster, and requires minimal maintenance. Satin stainless steel is the most durable natural finish.	Stainless steel, other than the 300 series, will corrode	Hinges, continuous hinges, lock bodies

To help you decide which metal is best to use for your project, here are some important questions to ask:

1. How important is durability?

2. Will hardware be used indoors or outdoors?

3. Is moisture resistance a factor (bathroom, rain)?

4. Will item be exposed to salt water/salt air? (beach house?)

5. Will the finish be exposed to abrasions/chemical fumes/excessive humidity?

6. Will the item be subjected to high frequency use?

7. Will hand perspiration be a factor on the finish?

If you have any questions about how any of the metals listed, which one is best for your project, or if you have a general question, please leave a comment, or email us, and we will have a metals specialist respond to your inquiry.