How These Magical, Gravity-Defying Doors Actually Work

How These Magical, Gravity-Defying Doors Actually Work

Describing the sculptures of Austrian designer Klemens Torggler as “doors” feels like an insult. These aren’t doors — they’re magical pieces of engineering, half kinetic sculpture and half magic trick, that you happen to walk through. So, how do they work?

You may have seen Torggler’s work around before: In his many YouTube videos, the Austrian designer walks nonchalantly through the frame, and with a flick of his wrist, sets a whirling structural manoeuvre in motion, either closing or opening the door in question. Torggler has been building these doors since 1997 — and each one is different. We decided to look at the five main types.

Let’s start with the video the Torggler uploaded today. We’re seeing his double rod system in action. In some ways, this is the simplest design to understand. It consists of two superimposed leafs. They sing open and close thanks to the long pieces of metal mounted to each square — by rotating, they swing the sections into place:

How These Magical, Gravity-Defying Doors Actually Work

Then there’s the epitrochoid curve system, which consists of a wheel and a curved track. The wheel moves along this track when the door is set in motion:

How These Magical, Gravity-Defying Doors Actually Work

The triangle system might be the most mesmerizing. In it, the door is split into two halves. Each of those halves is split diagonally, too. The two orthogonal edges that meet in the middle are connected by a mounted to a track which, when put in motion, pull the triangles into a folded position — the weight of which pulls the main edged into position:

How These Magical, Gravity-Defying Doors Actually Work

The screen system is a complex, large-scale partition: Mounted around a central rod affixed to the floor, two distinct “double rod” doors swing out to form a room-sized screen. Unfortunately, there’s no video of this one yet — but check out the still shot:

How These Magical, Gravity-Defying Doors Actually Work

Many of Torggler’s doors mix and match pieces of each system, and there are all kinds of crazy experiments to be seen on his YouTube page. Check out this asymmetrical glass version:

Or another series of early prototypes:

We’ve reached out to Torggler to find out what he’s working on next — but in the meantime, check out his website for more. [Klemens Torggler]


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.