This project was lower down on our client's to do list than exterior railings and door hardware, but after having designed both, we got to a situation where the railings and door hardware were, stylistically, a million miles from each other the gates assumed primary importance.

The door hardware is almost finished. It consists of spade-end strap hinges, thumb latches, a mortise lock and gothic grilles for an arched cut-out in the doors. The exterior railings were sleek and curving, the repetition of a sine-wave curve being used to make the illusion of a 3-dimensional surface.

I was asked if I could use the gate design to bridge the gap between the two - well someone else may have instantly thought of a solution but I just couldn't see how to marry these two styles together so we put the railing design aside and decided to concentrate on the gate.  The gate should be harmonious with the door hardware without having to follow medieval lines, then the railings could pick up elements from the gates and all the ironwork would have a reasonable flow.

The input from our clients was along the lines of - "something where the makers' hands are evident; we like wraps and seeing the bar transition from one plane to another; something strong looking to be a feature of the building".

My first doodles were basically a vertical/horizontal framework with decorative elements added to them, then I started to think about structure. I did some doodles of joining mechanisms and thought about how interesting it would be to have the visual interest in the gates come from the joinery rather than any one over all style.

Fortunately the clients also responded to this idea. So I did some more joining technique doodles and then finished a full gate design. A design feature that I applied was not to have any one bar running the height or width of the gates, apart from the outside frame.  I felt it would have more visual pull if you had to look for where the bars started and ended.

The design was received with enthusiasm but they felt the top line was a bit too straight and could I do something to break it up a bit - well of course I can step away form the straight and narrow! So I offered 3 alternatives and what do you know they picked the first one I had drawn! I am going to try and attach pics of sketches etc. here so you can see something of the process that goes in to resolving a design like this. 

Lynda

Metcalfe Roush Forge & Design

www.metcalferoush.com.

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