Mind the Gap..! - Ideas for a better quality of stay at Bolzano Station.
NINE PUBLIC DOOR HANDLES
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INTRODUCTION This door handle exercise was intended to challenge the students‘ ability to create and realise a product on a small scale, both in the context of the semester topic and within a very limited time frame. Embedded in the Mind the Gap...! project, the assignment dealt with the design and realization of a door handle for use in railway buildings as well as other public buildings. During field trips to various train stations in South Tyrol, a number of public door handles had to be studied and photographed in order to serve as a reference and starting point for an improved design. This boklet shows the nine door handles side by side with its source material. Prof. Klaus Hackl, October 2020
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Meran
Mals Naturns Schlanders 250
200 200
16 Bozen
160
Auer
100
Trento
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Innsbruck
Brenner
100 Sterzing
Bruneck Franzensfeste 400
Innichen
Lienz
Brixen
100
60
Dürres (Albania)
MAP LEGEND Source materials
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______ train station
6 ______ train station
______ train station
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______ train station
SOURCE MATERIAL The first step was to find my source material for this exercise. Luckily I discovered this door handle at the entrance of an annex building. It is characterised by its additive structural appearence and shape and its flowing transitions. Indentations and bulges were used to create a distinction between the different parts and remind us at ancient door handle constructions.
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This render shows my final door handle. My aim was to create a door handle with a slightly larger size, while maintaining its additive characteristic and smooth transitions. Furthermore I expanded the idea of an additive composition and designed a modular system for my handle. In fact, it doesn‘t only seem to be modular by its shape, but it is.
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Ehrenburg train station - Stefanie Andergassen
FINAL PROTOTYPE
SOURCE MATERIAL I chose this handle because of its particular shape that highlights its ergonomics. The two curves in particular allow an easy grip. What drove me to choose it was the sinuous shape that welcomes the user‘s hand. My aim was to create a handle that could be used with the arm, so I had to think of ergonomic shapes for both the arm and the hand.
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The handle I designed has a shape that is profoundly different from sipiration even though the concept of curves and ergonomics is found especially in the profile. I decided to use brass as a material to take up the characteristics of the source, also in this way I highlight the fact that it needs to be a handle dedicated to public places and needs to be durable and resistant.
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Latsch train station - Asia Maria Andreolli
FINAL PROTOTYPE
SOURCE MATERIAL Arrived at the railway station of DurrĂŤs immediately this doorhandle caught my attention. Looking at it, I felt the need to change it. I saw too many negative points that could be improved. The screws were too visible and annoying for the aesthetics of the handle. Furthermore, this door handle passes a sad feeling. Little attention was given to the details and little love in creating it. Additionally, also the material seemed fragile, not robust enough to withstand weather and climate changes but above all to be safe enough against vandalism.
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Here you can see a final rendering of my door handle. My main purpose was to cover / hide the lock for the key so that it is not visible to others. I wanted to create a door handle that fulfills the work as a handle but is also a protection for the lock at the same time. Another lack that bothered me about the door handle in the DurrĂŤs station was the fact that the handle and lock were separate, far from each other and I therefore wanted to connect these two parts and make them into a single piece.
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DurrĂŤs train station - Nensi Dafa
FINAL PROTOTYPE
SOURCE MATERIAL I decided to work on this handle because its shape combines linearity and ergonomics. Due to the rounded profile shape it sits comfortable in the hand. Nevertheless, it has also much potential for improving. The edges are too sharp and the transition between the main body and the cylinder that goes into the rosette could be solved differently.
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In my final model I included the profile shape and the unusual composition of handle, rosette and plate. I kept the sizes and proportions of the source material to make my handle suitable for public areas. My final handle is made out of aluminium. The form is defined by radii and soft transitions. This geometry based shape sits perfectly in the users hand.
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Brenner train station - Katharina Ennemoser
FINAL PROTOTYPE
SOURCE MATERIAL This object was handmade by a local blacksmith and it was created from a single metal plate, bent to create the volume that is necessary to grip it. Its unique features belong to a local tradition of handworking and design processes that i considered to be a perfect starting point for the project.
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My goal for this assignment was to replicate the same process of production (bending a metal plate), and adapt this object to a public environment, translating its local “language� into a universal one.
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St. Lugan train station - Giovanni Gonzo
FINAL PROTOTYPE
SOURCE MATERIAL At the Maria Himmelfahrt stop I discovered a very interesting door that has no handle at all. The only thing present on the surface is the lock, which means that the key itself acts as a handle. Finding ourselves in the current pandemic situation this approach would be safer for the hygiene of users, so starting from here, I wanted to create a handle that was not personal as in this case of the key-handle, but in any way adaptable to the alternative and safer use of the elbow, as well as the hand.
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Having as a starting point the „door without handle“ I focused on the idea of creating a handle that could be used without the help of hands to prevent the exchange of bacteria between a person to another in very crowded places. In a context like the train stations where many people come and go every day, often in a hurry, it is necessary that the viability is fluent. For this reason the handle is designed to be used in the most immediate way, both with the hand and the elbow, thanks to its two support surfaces that allow to push and pull easily and quickly even with the forearm.
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Maria Himmelfahrt train station - Claudia Martinelli
FINAL PROTOTYPE
SOURCE MATERIAL This door handle is the source material I found at the train station at Brenner. The shape of the profile immediately caught my eye. This shape provides an ergonomic shape at the front for the thumb and at the back the ergonomic form allows the fingers to follow it perfectly.
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Here you can see the final render of my door handle with the cover plate. I wanted to make the door handle a little less sharp and the connecting piece and the handle should become a single shape. By rounding the shape more, it was possible to make the door handle more ergonomic and more comfortable for the hand.
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Brenner train station - Miriam Pardeller
FINAL PROTOTYPE
SOURCE MATERIAL On our field trip we found a very nice door handle at the Staben train station. It was on one of the outside doors, it has an octagonal shape and curved edges. My aim was to create a handle that could be used with the feet, because of the current pandemic situationn, so I had to think of shapes that could easily be used with a foot.
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The pedal I designed has a shape that at first glance seems very different from my source handle. I tried to keep the outer edges the same as in the original while flattening the top surface. I added a metal strip to protect the door from any dirt or scratches that might come from the shoes. Additionally, I put some knobs on the surface to make my pedal anti-slip. I decided to use aluminium as my main material and for the non-slip knobs I chose to use silicone or plastic.
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Staben train station - Judith Prugger
FINAL PROTOTYPE
SOURCE MATERIAL The public door handle which stood out to me the most among all the many old and historic door handles along this train line (all contemporary doors had automatic opening systems apart from the public bathrooms) was this entrance to an electrical applieance room which did not have an actual handle. In this case presented here, the key becomes the handle, which is carried by train staff and is inserted again and again with each opening. The ramifications of such a handle-key system for a public door seemed intriguing and led me to design a multifunctional family of door handles.
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I attempted to develop some kind of archetypical shape-system for a public door handle which, with the sole difference lying in the manner in which they would by attached to the door, could be used both as a fixed and as a removable handle. Since my source material provided me only with an invisible handle, I set out to design a shape reminiscent of a key, but, as a door handle, would include the entire hand and all fingers in its handling instead of only the tip of the thumb and side of the index fingers. I then included my desire to make its shape function as a removable handle carried by train staff as well.
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Maria Himmelfahrt train station - Jonas Reissinger
FINAL PROTOTYPE
Freie Universität Bozen Fakultät für Design und Künste Project Product Design „Mind the Gap..!“ Under the supervision of Klaus Hackl Secil Ugur Yavuz Maria Cristina Addis
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