Reconceived Classics: FSB 1004

27.01.2022

David Chipperfield made his own personal tribute to Modernism towards the end of the zero years of the 21st century by, as it were, reversing the formal principle underpinning Gropius’s famous 1920s lever handle in close cooperation with premium hardware manufacturer FSB. Chipperfield's FSB 1004 design has been winning hearts over ever since with crisply envisioned styling that amply fulfils all the functional requirements involved. In deference to the iconic design by Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer, the acclaimed British architect took the cue for his pared-down design from the stringently linear world of geometry.

The original Gropius handle was itself already impressively minimalist in design and decidedly geometrical in appearance. A right-angled shank of square cross-section emerges from a very short round neck and passes over into a circular grip. Chipperfield likewise focuses on geometrical shapes in his new-age FSB 1004 collection but configures them in a different sequence in his reconceived variant. A longer circular neck passes over into a shank of square cross-section that bends round to form a grip running parallel to the face of the door and tapering into a rectangular shape when viewed end-on.

The fact of David Chipperfield authoring collections of handles equates with the way he sees the very nature of architecture as being. His team grasp buildings as settings, as holistically fashioned spaces that create special places for people and provide a stage for interactions. “If you conceive of architecture as a setting”, Chipperfield argues, “then you will also be interested in the objects in it.” Viewed thus, the door handles chosen lend expression to the building’s overall vision and give rise to a form of architecture in miniature. This approach forms the point of departure for a versatile handle collection that features in many of his projects, as in the James Simon Gallery in Berlin, the Caf Royal luxury hotel in London or the AmorePacific Headquarters in Seoul. His minimalist lever handles were most recently fitted at the former Bötzow Brewery site in Berlin.

This handle collection, which conforms to all the relevant hardware standards and building authority regulations, is available in Aluminium, Stainless Steel and a soft-gleam Bronze variant. Models for standard and narrow- frame doors are supplemented by variants for emergency-exit doors, a lifting/sliding door handle, plug-in handles for doors and windows and a glass-door fitting.

About FSB
FSB has been boldly focusing on perfection for more than 140 years now and is a byword the world over for perfectly engineered hardware solutions for doors and windows as well as for barrier-free sanitary fit-outs of the highest order. Architects and builders’ clients relish reaching out for products from Brakel in recognition of FSB’s great design expertise and profound understanding of the requirements of modern construction. Everything in any way associated with handle culture in built spaces is catered to from a single source.

Franz Schneider
Brakel GmbH + Co KG

Anne Levy
Nieheimer Straße 38
33034 Brakel
Telefon: +49 5272 608-105

Download: