The Power of Possibility
Nothing is more frustrating than feeling stuck, like your choices are limited. Sometimes, circumstance can back us into a corner, where we struggle to see a solution. That was almost the case with one of ASSA ABLOY’s recent clients...
A luxury hotel company was in the process of converting a 100-year-old power plant into a riverside oasis. However, when weather-related challenges threatened the functionality of the hotel’s automated entryways, the design team needed to consider another path. Enter ASSA ABLOY with a solution.
The problem:
To preserve the building’s history and character, our technicians were tasked with automating 7 pairs of handcrafted doors. This included the power plant’s original doors, which weighed 650 pounds. Four men were needed just to hang them!
Still, the challenge of automating such heavy doors was outweighed by the building’s Achilles heel: potential flooding. Situated at the foot of a hill just 50 feet from the river, the hotel faced frequent exposure to rising tides and rainfall-runoff.
The hotel architects’ initial choice of in-ground swing operators complemented the architecture beautifully but proved to be incompatible with these weather challenges. Shortly after their installation, the in-ground operators were ruined by water damage. A solution was needed.
The solution:
At ASSA ABLOY, we take pride in our ability to suggest possibilities our clients never dreamed of. In this case, our team offered the solution: installing swing operators overhead, rather than in-ground. Not only were our overhead operators powerful enough to swing the hotel’s 650-pound doors, they were also high off the ground – out of the path of the floodwaters. Plus, the dark bronze finish perfectly complimented the building’s handcrafted doors.