Definition and Purpose of Doors
– A door is a movable barrier that allows entry and exit from an enclosure.
– Doors provide security by controlling access to a building, room, or vehicle.
– They are typically made of materials suited to their purpose.
– Doors can move through hinges, slides, or counterbalancing.
– Their primary function is to allow or prevent ingress and egress.
Types of Doors
– Doors can move in various ways such as swinging, sliding, folding, or spinning.
– They may have different interior and exterior designs.
– Some doors, like vehicle doors, have radically different sides.
– Doors can incorporate locking mechanisms for security.
– Additional features like knockers or doorbells can announce visitors.
Functions of Doors
– Doors ensure privacy and prevent unwanted attention from outsiders.
– They separate areas with different functions within a space.
– Doors allow light to pass in and out of a room.
– They control ventilation and air drafts for effective temperature regulation.
– Doors can dampen noise and block the spread of fire.
Symbolism and Ritualistic Purposes
– Doors can have aesthetic and symbolic significance.
– Receiving a key to a door can represent a change in status.
– Doors and doorways often appear in literature and the arts as metaphors for change.
– They can be used in rituals or ceremonies to mark transitions.
– Doors may hold cultural or religious significance in certain contexts.
History of Doors
– The earliest recorded doors were depicted in Egyptian tombs.
– These doors were made of a single piece of wood and often had designs related to the afterlife.
– Framed doors, using stiles and rails, were used in other countries to prevent warping.
– Ancient doors were made from various types of wood, including olive, elm, cedar, oak, and cypress.
– Archaeologists have discovered doors over 5,000 years old in Switzerland. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Door
A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a doorway or portal. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide security by controlling access to the doorway (portal). Conventionally, it is a panel that fits into the doorway of a building, room, or vehicle. Doors are generally made of a material suited to the door's task. They are commonly attached by hinges, but can move by other means, such as slides or counterbalancing.
![A drawing of a door from the [[Lexikon der gesamten Technik]].](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:L-door.png)
The door may be able to move in various ways (at angles away from the doorway/portal, by sliding on a plane parallel to the frame, by folding in angles on a parallel plane, or by spinning along an axis at the center of the frame) to allow or prevent ingress or egress. In most cases, a door's interior matches its exterior side. But in other cases (e.g., a vehicle door) the two sides are radically different.
Many doors incorporate locking mechanisms to ensure that only some people can open them (such as with a key). Doors may have devices such as knockers or doorbells by which people outside announce their presence. (In some countries, such as Brazil, it is customary to clap from the sidewalk to announce one's presence.) Apart from providing access into and out of a space, doors may have the secondary functions of ensuring privacy by preventing unwanted attention from outsiders, of separating areas with different functions, of allowing light to pass into and out of a space, of controlling ventilation or air drafts so that interiors may be more effectively heated or cooled, of dampening noise, and of blocking the spread of fire.
Doors can have aesthetic, symbolic, ritualistic purposes. Receiving the key to a door can signify a change in status from outsider to insider. Doors and doorways frequently appear in literature and the arts with metaphorical or allegorical import as a portent of change.
