First choice for architects
100 Years of DORMA: collaborative product and design development
 Ennepetal/Germany. Of all the world’s system suppliers of door hardware and allied products, DORMA is the undisputed number one for architects and specifiers. With its holistic approach, comprehensive product portfolio and extensive services, the company – now in its 100th year of existence – has further extended its position as industry leader. “We have by far the most comprehensive range of products in this competitive marketplace and are able to offer truly integrated supplies and services on a single-source basis. This considerably reduces both the time lost and the costs incurred by our partners,” explains Joachim Zerfass, head of Project Management and Architect Marketing at DORMA, enumerating the advantages of the company’s system concepts.
DORMA’s five divisions – Door Control, Automatic, Glass Fittings and Accessories, Security/Time and Access Control and Movable Walls – are ideally matched to one another, affording a maximum of design scope in project planning and implementation. Individualised architect advisory services are complemented by practical training courses and special forms of collaboration – for example in the manufacture of individually crafted lever handle series based on the designs and development ideas of DORMA’s architectural partners.
Market-aligned product range around the globe
Throughout the world, the company supports architects in the realisation of their ideas – with technically refined, economically viable solutions. An international network of project managers ensures that planning activities can be effectively supported across national boundaries. DORMA provides its partners with direct contact to its regional staff, enabling access to their intimate knowledge of the specific conditions and requirements that exist locally.
In Germany, Switzerland and the Benelux countries alone, there are 20 project managers on hand to meet the specific demands of architects, planners and specifiers. These partners can discuss all the issues surrounding their door and hardware concepts with just a single competent contact within the company. Country-specific products, regional requirements and building regulations can thus be clarified at an early stage through this system of mutual support and teamwork. The “DORMA System Partners” scheme also ensures professional workmanship at the trade level. 750 firms from the fields of woodworking, metalworking, glass fabrication, sanitary equipment and electrical installation have already joined this network, which is unique to DORMA within the industry.
DORMA also offers numerous services to support its partners in their daily work. For example, complete toughened glass shower systems or swing door assemblies can be inspected at the premises of the nearest DORMA System Partner. And for products from the fields of security, time and access control, DORMA’s experts have also developed exhibition and demonstration modules which can likewise be inspected at affiliated installation firms. DORMA-developed architectural catalogues and tailored training courses impart detailed information and enable familiarisation with system functionalities. And DORMA also offers special seminars for architects and specifiers as part of their continuous professional development regime.
The DORMA recipe for success: continuous dialogue
A constant process of interchange with DORMA’s partners has traditionally remained a major component in the company’s strategy for success. It is not without reason that this system supplier counts among the most innovative mid-sized enterprises in Germany. A continuous dialogue with external stakeholders constantly stimulates the development of future-aligned products. For example, the advent of DORMA’s ITS 96 system was the result of wishes expressed by architects and specifiers for a door closer that could be more effectively integrated within its surroundings. The closer body and slide channel are so compact that they can be completely concealed in the door and frame. The MOVEO partition system was also developed in response to partner demands. With this innovative product range, space can now be utilised more flexibly and economically than ever before. And in March 2008, the MOVEO series was further augmented with the launch onto the market of double-skinned, fully glazed “MOVEO Glass” partitions, combining for the first time transparency and optimum sound insulation.
On the design side, particularly, DORMA makes full use of the competence and creativity of architects. The OGRO Create programme enables the design of pull, lever and window handles in accordance with custom concepts, providing a unique and tailored solution for each specific project. Professional industrial designers convert these ideas into handcrafted models for approval and are available for advice and support during the production phase. DORMA’s staff will also ensure compliance with relevant fire regulations and national and international standards, as well as helping to elaborate specific solutions to particular building problems.
Numerous exclusive fittings have already been designed and manufactured on this basis, with salient examples from past years having been developed in cooperation with the architects Gilberto Botti (Hypo-Vereinsbank head office project in Munich), Johannes Kister (“An der Karlsburg” university project, Bremerhaven) and Axel Schultes (Federal Chancellery project, Berlin) as well as with designer Wilhelm Braun-Feldweg (Atlantic Garden City project, Berlin). The first collaborations of this type go back to the 1930s. In the 1950s and 1960s, DORMA subsidiary OGRO, cooperating with leading German industrial designer Wilhelm Wagenfeld, developed a range of typical Wagenfeld lever handles characterised by their clearly styled lines and the economic use of materials. The latest and most spectacular product to come out of this OGRO programme is the “Bendo” lever handle, designed for the world’s first Armani Hotel in the highest skyscraper on earth, the Burj Dubai. The architectural partnership Skidmore, Owings & Merrill aligned the design closely to the typical Armani Casa style: unpretentiously elegant, comfortable and utterly functional.
Talking to the experts: “The Changing Face of Architecture”
Such close cooperation with external partners from the world of architecture not only promotes product and design development but also provides the basis for a series of events touring Germany under the heading “The Changing Face of Architecture”, with which DORMA has been advertising its competences since 2006. Together with renowned companies from other industries, new trends and developments from the various segments are presented in an architecturally attractive environment based on this platform.
Project reports by the associated architects or participating firms round off the programme. In 2008, more than 700 architects and specifiers availed themselves of this opportunity to exchange views and experiences with respect to current trends and the associated design and economic requirements. Various prestigious venues have been used to hold such events – such as Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, the BMW “Erlebniswelt” exhibition centre in Munich, Volkswagen’s “Gläserne Manufaktur” exhibition centre in Dresden and the Vitra-Design-Museum in Weil am Rhein. “The success of this series shows how important it is to properly tackle the tasks and problems facing architects. We are proud that our partners have such confidence in the competences and experience of our experts,” emphasises Joachim Zerfass. Preparations for the next tour are already under way.
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Examples of individual architectural designs applied to OGRO door furniture: the Bendo (design: Marshall Strabela), ZS 8880 (design: Prof. J. Kister), ZS 8928 (design: Prof. W. Wagenfeld), ZS 8951 (design: C. de Bruyn, U. Cossmann).
Photo: DORMA (reproduction free of charge)
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