On a recent trip to Racine, Wisconsin, I had the pleasure of experiencing the entrances and the environments of two very different buildings. A mile away from each other, they dramatically demonstrated 63 years of design evolution.
We had just installed a classic, four-panel custom fiberglass door to protect Wind Point Lighthouse, built in 1880 and designed by Orlando Poe. Wind Point had won a new door and windows as part of the JELD-WEN Reliable Lighthouse Restoration Initiative. Opening this strong, protective door was like opening a cover to a Victorian novel: it felt like traveling centuries back in time. The door guarded the lighthouse tower, just as the beacon at the top protected mariners from the shallow peninsula.
About a mile away as the seagulls fly is Wingspread, the 14,000 square foot home that Frank Lloyd Wright designed for Herbert Fisk Johnson in 1938-39. Rows of one-panel glass and cypress doors and windows were barely noticeable, an almost transparent transition from the streamlined interiors through the building to the patio, pool and park-like grounds beyond. The door design blended perfectly with the windows, the interior and exterior living spaces, the lawn and the woods.
Little more than 60 years separated these doors, yet light years in design terms. Another 60 years has elapsed since Wright designed Wingspread, yet his door designs are almost identical to today's swinging patio doors.
Little more than 60 days remain at this writing to enter the JELD-WEN Student Door Design Contest. Please visit other sections of this site for guidelines and to upload your entries by February 29!
Lynne Butterworth
Communications Manager, JELD-WEN
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For comments or questions, please contact studentdesign@jeld-wen.com.