Audity Haider - First Prize - Bangladesh

Traditional carved door with metal hardware reflecting the crafts and techniques of Bangladesh by Audity Haider

"Traditionally, doors of the Indian subcontinent were made out of wood, often having intricate hand-carvings as ornamentation and were fitted with metal hardware. Similarly, for this project, I imagined a wooden door with ornate carvings of flower motifs fitted with brass hardware of similar floral details. Rather than a door knob, the traditional doors often had a door hasp and lock, which is what I also incorporated in my design, along with embellished brass door knockers and door handles. The frame of the door is also intricately decorated and indicates a hand-carved house number. Meanwhile, the cornice provides protection to the door while elevating its elaborate design. "

Audity Haider - First Prize - Bangladesh

Traditional carved door with metal hardware reflecting the crafts and techniques of Bangladesh by Audity Haider

"Traditionally, doors of the Indian subcontinent were made out of wood, often having intricate hand-carvings as ornamentation and were fitted with metal hardware. Similarly, for this project, I imagined a wooden door with ornate carvings of flower motifs fitted with brass hardware of similar floral details. Rather than a door knob, the traditional doors often had a door hasp and lock, which is what I also incorporated in my design, along with embellished brass door knockers and door handles. The frame of the door is also intricately decorated and indicates a hand-carved house number. Meanwhile, the cornice provides protection to the door while elevating its elaborate design. "

Envel Ollivier - Second Prize - France

Projet de porte bretonne, ainsi que des détails sur la quincaillerie par Envel Ollivier

"La sculpture de cette porte bretonne rappellera à nos descendants cette légende où une hermine a préférer faire face aux chiens qui la traquaient, plutôt que de se souiller dans la boue, donnant ainsi naissance notre devise : « Plutôt la mort que la souillure ». La porte sera gravée de Liserons des sables, qui ralentissent l’avancée inexorable des dunes bretonnes. La quincaillerie quand à elle, sera gravée d’ajonc des landes de la région. Le heurtoir sera forgé comme un torque celtique, et la clef représentera une croix celte ornée de noeuds, conformément à la tradition."

"J’ai eu à coeur d’imaginer une porte représentant ma région, la Bretagne, à travers les matériaux employés, les techniques
traditionnelles de réalisation et les ornementations. Ainsi, la porte sera orientée vers le midi, conformément à la tradition,
et elle sera encastrée dans un encadrement en granite, pierre locale. La porte elle même est faite en bois de chêne de la région.

La partie supérieure est composée de 2 panneaux de bois sculptés. L’hermine à droite et l’epagneul Breton à gauche représentent la devise de la Bretagne : « Kentoc'h mervel eget bezan saotret » soit « Plutôt la mort que la souillure ». Cela vient d’un jour ou la duchesse Anne de Bretagne, lors d'une chasse, vit une hermine, traquée par les chiens, préférer mourir que de se salir en traversant une mare boueuse. Fascinée, la duchesse lui laissa la vie sauve et fit de l'hermine son emblème.

Entre ces deux panneaux de bois se trouve une rouelle. C’est un motif traditionnel récurrent sur les meubles bretons, réalisé en bois tourné. Le centre de cette rouelle, où se trouve une hermine symbolique, se situe à 2,345m de hauteur. Cette mesure vient des dates de création de la Bretagne : 400 et 938 après J-C. Si l’on fractionne la première date par la dernière, on trouve exactement 2,345.

Sur la partie inférieure de la porte on trouve 4 panneaux de bois, ornés de Liserons des sables.

On trouve ces plantes dans les dunes du littoral
breton. Elle permettent de fixer ces dunes et on les trouve ici comme
symbole de stabilité face au temps qui emporte tout.

Enfin on trouve la quincaillerie. La poignée de la porte représente une
fleur de Liseron des sables. En dessous, la serrure est ornementée
d’Ajonc, une plante aux fleurs jaunes et aux épines vertes que l’on
retrouve dans les landes bretonnes.
Le heurtoir, quant à lui, est inspiré des torques celtes bretons. Aux
deux bouts, on retrouve le chien et l’hermine qui s’affrontent, en
référence à la légende.
Pour finir, j’ai représenté le bout d’une clef. On y retrouve une croix
celtique, symbole de l’union entre la religion celte et catholique qui a
existé en Bretagne. Leur centre est ornementé de noeuds celtiques, et on
en retrouve à travers toute la région."

João Batista - Third Prize - Portugal

"My two entries are two different doors, both following the built traditions in my country, in a more classical and vernacular fashion.
Both entries are original designs, but I took inspiration from doors I have seen through my tours around my homeland (Portugal).

The first one is a door in Sintra, with a romantic archway with limestone blocks arranged and sculpted in a picturesque interpretation of a rusticated arch. The wooden door has three intricately carved panels, two forged iron hinges with vernacular motifs, as well as a door handle on top of an escutcheon (see detail drawing n1).

The second one is a colored pencil drawing of a Renaissance Door, here the doorway is composed of a simple classical granite frame, with a detail very common in northern Portugal during the XVI century, it being the suave curves instead of a sharp angle around the inner part of the doorway. The door itself is composed of various panels with complex geometrical lines, ending in a diamond, another typical motif found in renaissance architecture. The wood is painted green, with forged iron heads that hold up the massiveness of the door. The door knocker, inserted in a escutcheon, also turns, letting the bolt unlock the door after the key is turned, a mechanism found in every part of the country, but now unfortunately largely abandoned, which is a shame since I find it very practical, satisfying and gives an extra layer of security."

Servando de la Rosa - United Kingdoms

Design for a new drawing room door in London by Servando de la Rosa (UK)

"In the same way Georgian builders and craftsmen applied pattern books to construct a beautiful door, a handsome hall or an ingenious frieze, the design for this door has been composed following several pattern books. All of its elements have been taken from architecturally commended precedents: who said a wood carving on a bed in Hampton Court Palace, or a plaster moulding at Kings College, Cambridge, couldn’t lead to a brass knob, or a door carving?

In a magpie-like way, the door is composed of various fragments from London townhouses, palaces and other buildings. There is no use reinventing the wheel when we already have such inestimable wealth across the length and breadth of Britain.

Just as a building responds to its context, a door must respond to its location. The following design has been conceived to be in a new Georgian townhouse in London, one such that Quinlan Terry or Robert Adam might design.

The door opens into a drawing room. Its playful curved design offers an analogy of the two worlds it separates: a concave face represents the drawing room, to which the occupants can withdraw for more privacy, while its convex one opens up to guests as open arms to the much more publicly inclined great chamber.

The design has been conceived as simple in form but with very concentrated ornamentation in specific locations that emphasise its importance in the house. Its material composition is brass for the furniture, and well-seasoned hardwood painted in green with gilded detailing."