Form & function.

THE AMERICANS AND THE BRITISH ARE UNITED BY MANY COMMON THINGS, NOT least of all a common language. Equally, U.S. and European architects and builders benefit from a constant exchange of information--new technology, new ways of doing things, new design information. The breathtaking scope and vision of American architects has been recognized as outstanding and copied throughout the world. However, in spite of this, there are some other areas of building where Americans and Europeans, and particularly the British, seem to be at opposite ends of the scale. One of these differences may be small physically but it is huge fundamentally. It is the far-from-simple door hinge.

The mantra "If the hinge fails, the door fails; and if the door fails, the building has failed" is a profound one. It neatly encapsulates the ripple effect that the smallest component can have on the largest. It is a similar philosophy to that which scientists love to expound when they say that the energy from the flapping of a butterfly's wings in California can contribute to a thunderstorm in Australia!

The importance of hinges is that they not only make doors work in the complex jigsaw of a building, but they also enhance the visual perception of what a doorway actually looks like. All too often, the average end user takes both hinge functionality and aesthetics for granted. Those of us with a tutored eye often see many beautiful examples of door design marred by over-large and ungainly hinges. This mismatch of components is not a necessary, evil of the trade.

Filling the hole

For the general user, door hardware is oftentimes an overlooked commodity; after all, it's all part of the door, and a primarily functional one at that. But we in the industry know that hinges and other opening and closing devices can, and do, play a larger role in building operation and aesthetics. The place to see and understand how hinges are made and what door opening technology and philosophy is all about is the manufacturer. Years of experience and innovation has led to providing solutions, both design-led and performance-led, to architects, building designers and building users. Much of it also involves education.

In spite of what some designers may think, the specification of architectural ironmongery is not just a debate about whether this door handle looks good or that one feels better (and leave the rest to the contractor). What architectural ironmongery is about is a whole raft of performance, costing and aesthetic matters.

The door is one of the few building components continually on the move; it is subject to constant use and often abuse. In reality, the door is not there just to fill a hole in the wall. It has to fulfill a variety of functions: access, which includes normal, disabled and emergency; security; privacy; safety from fire and smoke; and, of course, aesthetics. Certainly, life cycle performance with minimum or no maintenance cost is now vital and that is particularly so in the UK public sector, with large programs of new or refurbishment projects for schools, hospitals and military buildings.

Good designers and specifiers understand all this. They appreciate why the correct specification of architectural ironmongery, such as hinges and door closers, is so important. Sadly, the value of these benefits is often lost through the supply and building process, often late in the contract when savings have to be made. Because of the numbers involved, the hinge is identified as an obvious cost saving area. As a result the specifier, often without proper consultation and under the pretext of "similar approved" loses the benefits identified as valuable because cost saving is considered more important than performance. What is the sense in spending many hundreds of dollars on design-led doors only to spend cents on the mechanism that makes them work?

Performance standards

European hinge manufacture is stringently controlled to ensure that the highest standards are maintained. The introduction of CE marking, for example, requires that manufacturers meet the minimum legal requirements for their products with regard to health and safety under a European directive. Responsibility dictates that specifiers must now ensure that all relevant products on fire, smoke and escape route doors are CE-marked. CE-marked hinges are yet another important step to ensure that the integrity of buildings and the safety of personnel will never be compromised because of inferior and inadequate products. European hinge manufacturers, among other building product suppliers, are also bound to ensure that buildings meet the needs of the able bodied and disabled alike. High standards in hinge manufacture must be maintained. This includes offering a range of CE-marked hinges, as well as hinges with fire ratings and performance guarantees.

For designers and specifiers, it is vital that binges actually do what the manufacturer says they will do. Consider the recent experience of an international company in England where 12,000 hinges failed to stop the doors from dropping. The hinges were hopelessly inadequate, required weekly inspection and cost thousands in repair and retrofit in the first 15 months of installation! No third-party test evidence was ever available to prove the hinges would do the job. Fortunately, such evidence is available for the better products.

For example, one of our US distributors recently performed in-house testing of their door closers. The tests showed that the accompanying hi load hinges were still working perfectly after 2 million cycles with less that half a pound of effort needed to put them in motion without the door closer attached. It takes a long time for a door to operate 2 million times. If you can achieve that with hinges and door closer still offering pristine performance, without the need for maintenance or any sign of deterioration, you have achieved a fine specification; that really is what stringent performance standards are all about.

The right choice

The best hinges can cater to vertical and lateral loads and all adjusted door weights up to 550lbs. The 4" x 3" hinge can carry up to 350lbs. Such a range includes traditional square corners and perfect radius corners which provide maintenance cost savings. Best also means innovative, and new innovation may sometimes be hard to see. For example, engineering of hinges also takes account of fixings. Supplying better wood screws for better fixings can mean savings of up to 2.5 seconds per hole. On large contracts, that can save many days of labor. Now that is clever and obviously adds to the value of the product!

It is a brutal fact that, historically, many designers and contractors have bad a tendency to ignore long-term maintenance as something which did not particularly concern them. Now all that has changed and life cycle costing has become more important than ever before. If specifiers want a "fit and forget" solution for their doors, they will specify hinges that do not wear, require no maintenance and have at least a 25 year performance guarantee.

Equally important, they will look closely at how that hinge relates to the design of the actual door. For example, they will ask should the finishes on the hinge complement the door or contrast with it? Or, should the hinge be as un-obtrusive as possible or make a bold statement? Whatever the answer, the specifier will always insist that the hinge is aesthetically attractive and guarantees high performance throughout the life of the door.

What all this means is that designers, specifiers and end users not only deserve the best but can be guaranteed peace of mind. Building product manufacturers in general and specifiers in particular must ensure that form and function are considered together and that performance and aesthetics come before price. Making the right choice in the early stages will bring lasting success in the end.