Shengjie Guo
Winter semester 2021–2022
Main project 1 _ Touch Point
with Prof. Jan Vietze
and Prof. Adrian Peach
Coorprate partner: FSB
Industrial Design, HTW Berlin
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
After completing phase 2, my professor and the experts at FSB made suggestions about my design, and I made changes to my design in response to these suggestions. One of the most important points was that my design had to be a universal design that took into account not only the arms but also the hands, so that the design would work well regardless of the season.
So I concentrated on rethinking the shape of my door handle. This was to ensure that the position in which the arm can operate and the position in which the hand can operate could coexist without being unattractive.
Through constant modelling and discussions with my professors, I tried out different basic shapes and adjusted the distances between the individual parts: the distance from the door handle to the door, the length of the door handle, the length of the armrest, the length of the part used by the hand, etc., and tried out different sizes of rounded corners to finally achieve the desired version.
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 sizes.
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.
© 2025 Shengjie Guo. All rights reserved.
Based in Berlin – Available for collaboration worldwide.
Based in Berlin – Available for collaboration worldwide.