Seven Daring Door Designs

Date 12 April 2019

The beauty of good design is that it elevates ubiquitous objects to art. Take doors, for example—we use them every day, but rarely do we really look at them. In the case of these seven doors, however, not only do they command attention, they make the simple act of going through one momentous. It seems appropriate then that we begin with lighting whiz Ingo Maurer’s tunnel of polished copper plates—made dramatic with just a few bars of light on the floor—that welcomes guests to the otherworldly Kruisherenhotel Maastricht in the Netherlands.

In Paris’ Golden Triangle, La Maison Champs Élysées has been redesigned by Maison Margiela. Behind the understated filigreed entrance of the fashion house’s first ever interior project is a world where reality blends with the surreal. For a spectacular showcase of Art Deco originality, look no further than Casa Habita in Guadalajara where Milanese firm Dimorestudio has offset a pendant lamp designed in the 1930s by Gio Ponti for Fontana Arte by asymmetrical monobloc sliding doors in the guest bathrooms.

Step into a bygone era through the 150-year-old wooden doors of Satoyama Jujo in the middle of the Osawa mountain pass in Japan’s region of Niigata. While across the Pacific, in the heart of Mexico City lies a 17th-century colonial palace with imposing double-height wooden doors, beckoning you in to the Downtown Mexico. Another ancient wooden door leads you to the cave rooms at the Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita in southern Italy where modern amenities sit comfortably amid a centuries-old aesthetic.