FSB 1254 handle series

INTERVIEW
Fawad Kazi in an interview with Katharina Sommer
The hand doesn't lie

Fawad Kazi runs his architectural office in Zurich. His most important projects include the LEE building at ETH Zurich and the St.Gallen Cantonal Hospital and Eastern Switzerland Children's Hospital, which is currently under construction. He designed the new FSB 1254 handle range especially for the hospital. He documented all intermediate steps of the form-finding process as 3D models in a setting case. FSB took a closer look at the box and spoke to the architect about why questioning and omitting are important parts of the design process and why the hand does not lie.

Katharina Sommer: Mr. Kazi, you are an architect and design houses. Now it was to be a door handle for FSB, a small detail in the building. What was the appeal of this task for you?

Fawad Kazi: I see the architects of Viennese Modernism as a role model, who usually designed everything themselves, from the house to the furniture. That was always one of my premises. For the LEE building at ETH Zurich, for example, we developed our own lights and furniture, and the chairs we sit on are also our own designs. In the course of our current major project, the St.Gallen Cantonal Hospital and the Eastern Switzerland Children's Hospital, we therefore came up with the idea of also designing the fittings ourselves and thus doing justice to the holistic approach.

KS: How did you approach this task?

FK: The process started with a factory visit in Brakel to understand how the production processes work and where the limits of feasibility lie. I didn't want to present a detached design, but to develop a handle that was in harmony with the technical possibilities. At the same time, I analyzed historical handles and FSB author handles. The first drafts were then rudimentary clay models that allowed an unbiased approach. At the same time, I made the first drawings, which I used very early on to concretize the idea of the accentuated grip volume. To further refine the design process, I then got myself a 3D printer.

KS: How did this very early conviction that the gripping volume must be thicker come about?

FK: My analysis of the historical development showed that until around a hundred years ago, the grip volume was more solid and slimmer where the thumb rests. With the design by Walter Gropius, for example, the more massive rear part was finally dissolved and a constant handle cross-section was created. This was later reversed, as manifested in the handle by Max Bill, among others. This is inverted compared to historical handles, i.e. thicker at the front and thinner at the back. I questioned this inversion. The analysis and understanding of what the handle has to do for the hand resulted in the idea of emphasizing the grip volume more strongly.

KS: You usually create extensive sketches. You also created 3D models for the handle. What role do these play in the design process?

FK: In architecture, I am interested in processes, the search for the right solution and therefore ultimately the right design. It's often a search and precision with a pen. It was similar with the handle development, I needed a large number of drawings and printed models to finalize the adjustment. This process requires time, patience and meticulousness. The setting box with the 3D models of all the intermediate steps illustrates this approach. I found it appropriate to archive these models in toolboxes. The result was a kind of project within a project. Looking back, it is very interesting for me to create cross-references between the individual models and thus be able to interpret my own discovery process.

KS: Were the door handles developed especially for the St.Gallen Cantonal Hospital and the Eastern Switzerland Children's Hospital?

FK: The idea was to design a universal handle. Initially, the shape was rather complex and opulent and I realized that the handle had to be simple and restrained in order to meet this requirement. I then gradually reduced the cross-section of the handle from eight to six to four corners. This reduction was determined on the one hand by the manufacturing process, in particular the grinding of the handle. At the same time, the design idea also developed in this direction based on the models and drawings. In the end, economy, production, design and ergonomics all came together.

KS: In my eyes, the handle radiates something very natural. Wasn't there a temptation to let off steam creatively?

FK: There is of course a great temptation to take this idea of form very far. But you quickly realize that this doesn't work. The handles that work well are rather inconspicuous. Handles with more extravagant shapes, on the other hand, are often difficult to grip. Shape and ergonomics do not necessarily go hand in hand. The beauty of a handle is that, unlike the eye, the hand cannot be fooled, it either fits or doesn't fit. My main motivation was to bring together both aspects, design and ergonomics.

KS: A door handle is an everyday object. What do you see as special about it?

FK: The handle is one of the objects in architecture that you can still touch. Many things in a building are only perceived visually, but not haptically. Like a chair, the handle is therefore an important interface between the body and the building, and I'm interested in how people deal with it.

FSB Blog, 11.01.2018, Text: Katharina Sommer