One that Internet regulars among us will appreciate Although perhaps, from the photo, it should say ‘Door Handle not Found’?! Funnily, this would no doubt be a lovely metaphorical interpretation of what actually happens when a web page is not found – there simply is no way to get into the site :-) And finally, we definitely know where you can get a door handle!

Photo credits: Door 404 by ‘darkenedcorridor’

God bless academics, that can make the simplest and most beautiful of things into an adventure into the dictionary.
Did you know that door knobs are also ‘cognitive affordances’?

I’m going to have to use some direct quotes here, as the language is impossible to paraphrase:

“Physical and cognitive affordances help users perform physical and cognitive actions, respectively.”
The visual design of both kinds [of door handles – knob and lever] conveys a cognitive affordance helping users think or know about usage through the implied message their appearance gives to users: ‘This is what you use to open the door’.

As you’ve no doubt realised, (although only since discovering the Architectural Classics blog!), the Internet is occasionally useful for something other than sales and advertising! Our gem of a site for this month is The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH), an effectively and simply designed register of architectural heritage in Ireland – home of our headquarters. In the future we’ll be looking at similar sites in other countries … but for now there are enough gorgeously composed, traditional buildings to satisfy any one of you!

Part of being a great website is not only having a great idea, but executing it properly according to what is easiest for the web. This site does that so well – with an easy to navigate homepage, a nicely limited number of options, with easy-to-spot links and a great use of colour to direct your eye. If you want to look at beautiful buildings, go straight to the Building Surveys link at the bottom left of the page. If gardens are more your thing, go for the green box. There are also quick links on the home page to the building of the month (so many to choose from!), to NIAH publications, as well as a whole bunch of resources regarding architectural history.

Thank goodness they haven’t yet invented one of these for your home! We would be out of a job.This is a disappearing car door – and I challenge you to see how it works the first time you see it … or even the third time! It really does seem to disappear without a trace the first few times you see this door open.

Did any of you watch Looney Tunes as a child? You know, those incredibly violent cartoons that our grandparents and other childless adults said would turn us all into violent, angry, psycho killers by the time we reached our late teens (We sure showed those GODDAMNED STUPID PRUNES … excuse me ;-) ! Well, it is funny to see that even with the advent of all the new technology we have today, that comedy remains essentially the same, we laugh at the same things, and even door knobs can be funny (not just stylish or inspiring!).

If you can’t watch the video, the man on the left is shown temporarily affixing a door knob to a painted view of a street outside. When another man approaches from the right hand side, he takes the door knob and moves it towards himself as if he was opening a door. The man on the right proceeds to slam face first into the painted view bwa ha hah hahh!

And so concludes today’s lesson on strange, unusual and hilarious ways to use door knobs.