German doors (not just locks)

The other thread on locks has put me in mind of something that’s been bothering me for a few weeks. Since it’s holiday season i have been cat-sitting for a few friends nearby. This means I’ve been going in and out of different buildings, and there are a lot of badly designed doors around here.

It’s confusing to me, since the door is not a new invention, nor is it complicated. So how is it possible in 2022 to have relatively new doors that SUCK?

Let me give some examples:

* my landlord just replaced the door to my building. The lock is between the handle and the edge of the door. It’s placed such that if you turn the key with your right hand your wrist will hit the door handle, if you use your left you will hit your knuckles on the door frame when you push the door open. The lock does not stay open so you can’t unlock the door and then open it from the handle either. Why? Did the person who designed it have tentacles instead of hands?

* A friend has the door to the house with the lock placed 2cm under the handle which is a solid chunk of metal, which sits 5-6 cm out from the door. This means if you are taller than 120 cm…you can’t see the lock. You have to feel for it. Again…was this designed by a different species which are either short or have eyes at waist level? What the hell.

* In all the offices in Germany I’ve worked in (which numbers 3 in the last 7 years), the doors have had stickers on them to tell you whether to push or pull. There’s a name for that: a [Norman door](https://99percentinvisible.org/article/norman-doors-dont-know-whether-push-pull-blame-design/). There exist door designs which convey to a user how to use it…without signs.

Anyway, I’m not sure if it’s the architecture profession that needs a good slap or what the solution is, but could we get some decent doors in this country?