Happy New Year!!!
As with the last post of 2019, I struggled with the topic of the first post of 2020. I mean, it has been more than a week with no posts, so it should be something substantial, and it’s the first post of the new year, so maybe something positive…hopeful…uplifting? Starting off way down in the nitty-gritty didn’t seem right, and I didn’t have a holiday vacation in Europe with lots of beautiful door photos to share.
Then…it arrived. An email from Scott Foley of Sunrise Door Solutions. Over the past months I’ve been watching the progress of some amazing hollow metal frames on Facebook, and I had asked Scott for some photos of the finished product. Yes – that’s what I said…AMAZING HOLLOW METAL FRAMES.
I have a very deep appreciation for door-related creativity, and I know from experience how difficult some of these “special” openings can be. When I opened the architectural elevations for these frames, I got a little misty – maybe from remembering the pain of past projects where the architect asked for something that seemed impossible.
Side Note: The project is an elementary school. I can hear some of you saying that the money would be better spent on something else for the school, but these openings will be in place for years to come and definitely make the educational environment more fun and exciting. In this day and age when school districts are spending thousands of dollars on retrofit security gadgets that may or may not actually help (and could have negative consequences), I’d much rather see money spent on door frames that look like boats. 🙂
Due to manufacturing restrictions for the frames and/or glass, some of the angles needed to be modified…here is one of the submittal elevations:
Here’s the first frame welded up, and the delivery – WOW! The lead time was 12 weeks, but personally I don’t think that’s bad at all! The glass order required plywood templates for each piece, just to double-check the shapes and sizes.
The rough installation:
And finally, the openings in place:
Cool, right?? The frames were made by National Custom Hollow Metal, and the glass was supplied by McGrory Glass. Thank you to everyone who participated in this project, including Sunrise Door and Scott Foley – the openings look amazing!
If you’ve had a tough project like this one, I’d love to hear about it (and see the photos, of course)!
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Hopefully the impending ADA room signage is as imaginative as the frame design. Would like to have seen it called out in the detail elevation of the frame to avoid it being placed as an afterthought which I fear it will.
Great looking!!!! but do the doors have a cylindrical prep?
I am sure the CMU contractor was thrilled. Is it a good idea to leave the shipping spreaders in place?
Awesome. Would have looked nicer with painted doors in different colors
Very cool.
It appears that the doors are fire rated but not the frames. How will they get away with that?
And what’s up with wearing sandals while unloading the frames? Is that OSHA approved footwear?
Just a great example of the flexibility of hollow metal. I would take it over aluminum for almost any application any day of the week.
I think the frames are very artistic and to me beautiful. My prayer (and I do pray) is that we look for the beauty. I am sure your fathers had something to say like mine “there is little constructive in criticism, so acentuate the positive.”
Wow! How Awesome!
Very nice! Love the creativity!
Cool Frames, boring doors. I really like those steel toe leather sandals the guy in the truck was wearing…. (…= sarcasm)
I think the frames are awesome, I know my kids would appreciate it.
Yes leather sandals bad idea
Yes I noticed the labels, and figured they used UL riveted labels that get painted in.
Also a agree a HM door could have had a creative VK
Maybe a little more coordination as it seems steel-stud anchors for the masonry opening
End of the day we have some pictures to enjoy, and the kids get something cool.
Very cool frames, indeed. How about a shout-out to the masonry folks that got those frames into a block wall!?!?
YAY MASONS! 😀
– Lori