DZ 1
The DZ1 door handle is a pair of door handles designed for large doors in public spaces. The upper part of its structure allows it to be used with the arm. The lower part is intended for use with the hand. The shape of the two door handles is very simple, but they visually show how to use them.
This pair of door handles allows for easier force transfer on heavy doors. At the same time, the simple overall structure of the door handles can be used as an alternative to textual instructions. They also allow people to operate the door with their arms instead of their hands in certain situations, making life safer.
The door handles have a very simple shape and an overall streamlined design, which makes them very easy to manufacture. Due to the simplicity of the overall shape, there is a wide range of materials to choose from, including aluminium and stainless steel. The entire door handle can be manufactured as a single piece.
Through extensive research in Berlin's public spaces—including shopping malls, banks, and private buildings—I identified three key issues with conventional door handle design: first, many doors are too heavy, requiring significant physical effort to operate, which can be inaccessible for users with limited strength; second, the handles often lack clear visual cues, making it confusing whether to push or pull; and third, the need for hand contact increases the risk of disease transmission, particularly during health crises like COVID-19. These problems highlight the urgent need for more intuitive, hygienic, and user-friendly interaction points in public architecture.
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To address the problems to be solved, I have summarised four solutions below that should be included in the design.
-Allow the door to be opened and closed with the arm instead of the hand.
-Keep the shape of the door handle as simple as possible. This makes the manufacture of door handles less complicated.
-The shape of the door handle provides a visual indication of how it should be used.
The arms give people more strength to push or pull doors, and instead of hands, they can also reduce the risk of people getting sick at certain times.
The simplicity of the form will also enable a simple production process and a wider choice of materials.
The door handle show people visually how to use it, rather than with text that distracts from the overall aesthetic. The better products are usually intuitive for the user to operate.
The design of the door knob was developed through sketching, modelling, rendering and modelling.
After working out the points that needed to be implemented in the design, I began drawing and making the prototype from simple materials. As I continued drawing, I experimented with new shapes for the door handles. The shape of the door handle should be as simple as possible, but still provide space for the arm. When designing the shape, I also paid attention to the following points.
Firstly, when people use their arms, they stand at a certain angle, so the part left for the arms must have a certain angle of inclination to better suit people's daily lives. A comfortable position also allows for better application of force to achieve better opening performance.
Secondly, the orientation of the door handle is also important when pulling on the door, as people have a better experience when they insert their hands deeper into the gap of the door handle from top to bottom.
After many attempts, I got my first stage of door handles. It has a simple shape and can be used with the arm, and it is also intuitive to see how people can use it. However, the disadvantage is that the opening of the door handle for pulling is facing downwards, which makes it difficult to insert and remove the arm.
Physical prototype
Draft process
After making improvements, I received Phase 2, which retains the advantages of the door handles in Phase 1, with the openings for pulling the door handles facing upwards, which is an improvement in user experience. The Phase 2 model was manufactured and painted by Modellmasse.
Final Rendering
Physical prototype
As the name suggests, the shape of the individual ‘blossoms’ is inspired by the composition and arrangement of mushrooms, flowers and bird feathers, creating a dynamic and organic effect when viewed as a whole.
As the name suggests, the shape of the individual ‘flowers’ is inspired by the composition and arrangement of mushrooms, blossoms and bird feathers, appearing dynamic and organic when viewed as a whole.
People can choose whether they want to open and close the door with their hand or arm. The upper part of the door handle can be operated with the arm and the lower part with the hand. The door handle also tapers from top to bottom so that it can be easily operated by hands of different sizes.
People can choose whether they want to open and close the door with their hand or arm. The upper part of the door handle can be operated with the arm and the lower part with the hand. The door handle also tapers from top to bottom so that it can be easily operated by hands of different size
At the same time, as already mentioned, it is most comfortable to tilt the arm at a certain angle when pushing or pulling the door. Therefore, the upper part of the door handle has a slanted groove that fits the arm well and allows people to operate the door in a comfortable position. For doors in public spaces, the left door is specially adapted for left-handed people and the right door for right-handed people, so that both left- and right-handed people can use this pair of door handles.
After some discussion, we decided to build 3 prototypes.
The first is a miniature model that represents the final product on a specific scale to show what our product will look like. However, this model is not functional.
The second model is a functional model. This model is smaller and shows how the small parts on top of our product will move. It also has lights underneath that show how the product works.
The third model is a heat generation model. We obtained a material from our partner company TITV that generates its own heat, and we fused it with our model to create a heat model that shows how heat is generated.
Miniature model
The base material of the model is an MDF board. The shape of the base plate is cut out with a laser and the three parts are glued together to form a base plate.
The small pieces of fabric were also cut with the laser, while we glued all the fabrics onto the plate in an irregular arrangement to give the whole model a more attractive appearance.
Functional model
Once we had found the right expressions, we combined various conversion expressions with our products. The movement of each small part of our product was converted into an expression of the weather, while vibrations, sound and light were used to bring all the sensations of the weather to life as vividly as possible.
Heat generation model
This model demonstrates the heating function of our products, which can be used to simulate weather conditions by changing the temperature.
We obtained our heating component from our partner company TITV. After studying it, we combined it with our model, wired it, soldered it, and so on, and finally, our model automatically heats up when connected to the power supply to change the temperature.
© 2025 Shengjie Guo. All rights reserved.
Based in Berlin – Available for collaboration worldwide.
Based in Berlin – Available for collaboration worldwide.