A Building's Handshake
Starting with an open prompt assignment - design and fabricate a door handle for any door - my partner and I decided to design a set of door handles for Pittsburgh's Oakland Carnegie Library, and iconic and significant building in the city. The profiles of our door handle follows the layout of the ornamentation of the doors from the Carnegie Library, travelling over the ornaments on the door and landing in the flat regions across a 3 ft span area in order to accommodate both adult and child grip heights heights. The cross-sectional profile of the handle is derived from the idea of twisting a rectangular volume. This profile was then modified into an ergonomic form through physical prototyping. This information was used to modify the rectangular profile into an ergonomic one through SubD modeling.
Top Row: Form Generation Concept
Bottom Row: Physical Prototypes - Clay and 3D Printing
Handle and Fabrication Design
Exterior Handle
The exterior handle, milled from walnut, has both a vertical part and a horizontal projection, allowing users to choose a comfortable hand position. The handle would be mirrored and would be placed on a double panel door
The exterior handle, milled from walnut, has both a vertical part and a horizontal projection, allowing users to choose a comfortable hand position. The handle would be mirrored and would be placed on a double panel door
Interior Handle
The interior handle’s profile is generated through the same twisting logic as the exterior handle and is cast out of rockite using a two-part mold milled from high density foam
The interior handle’s profile is generated through the same twisting logic as the exterior handle and is cast out of rockite using a two-part mold milled from high density foam
CNC Toolpaths
Physical Models
Exterior Handle Iterations
Interior handle Iterations
All Prototypes and Iterations