Buildin' With Doors

The Door and its Objectification

A few days ago I was assigned to watch and respond to a documentary called "Objectified" by Gary Hustwitz, it discussed the role of design, its factors and the relationship between the object and the consumer. Furthermore, my task was to create an object inspired by the film or respond to an object present within the film. 

Immediately as soon as I read the task given I thought of using an object for its almost opposite purpose than what it was originally designed for. I also thought of using an object in daily life we are not usually conscious of using to make it interesting, a door. 

The idea that Andrew Blauvelt stated of the development of the object made me think of the 21st-century door and how it is mass-manufactured compared to the earlier generations of its makings. The function of the door is arguable to close off and open an area. Therefore, its opposite ideas from my point of view would be to have no capability to control the flow of entry and something monumental, like an archway being an open chasm for the flow of entry.

Extra ideas I tackled within my objects are the values that Dieter Rams discussed like Useful, Aesthetic design, and longevity. 

The design of the door is based on the doors in my house, it has a parabolic mirrored design on its face which I used a heart shape and 2 rectangles to mimic. It is used as the building material for the archway with only one shape (the arch) not fully using the door. In the end, a door is just a flat plane which its angle can be manipulated, aka a moveable wall.

Development of Shape & Composition

  

 Before                                            Midway                                                   After

Originally the shape looked like the image above, however from a design perspective it was too much for me to look at, too much detail. I used larger doors to provide contrast and less detail to lessen the "intensity" from before.
 (the stance I took on what is an object is based on the Oxford Online Dictionary description which was basically anything tangible and became even more abstract)

Further demonstration of related ideas

To take my ideas further, the other function of the door is to allow entry so I decided to create a wall. Specifically recreate a section of the great wall as it has familiar iconography can be linked to the wall aspect more easily. The other function of the door being the capability to allow access becomes redundant when placed into a setting like a wall which intends to divide and keep out.

The shape of the wall could not be placed first, it would have to conform to the landscape around it to make it look more natural.

One thing is that happened constantly was the simplification of the door when resized. The roof, for example, has simplified features of the original design of the door I made, however, I think it's not that noticeable as the roof doors are way smaller so its defining lines hide the imperfection.