Schweiss Counter Wykoff Storefront Doors | Schweiss Must See Photos
Photo of the Day
NYC warehouse get renovation including Schweiss Doors to create shopping center

The shimmering, perforated steel security bifold doors, which are motorized and fold up to form awnings, will serve as the shopping center's signature. When they are closed, the doors, which are laser-cut into a grid pattern, emit light through hundreds of holes in the steel clading on the Schweiss Bifold Door.

Beginning construction at the Wykoff

Project just getting started....early stages


Funky Storefront Doors for Shops

Hugging the southwest corner of Long Island, New York, Brooklyn's earlier identity was mostly hitched to Coney Island beach and the Brooklyn Dodgers of baseball immortality. Today the city is enjoying a renaissance of rediscovery by artists, retailers, ambitious contractors and creative landscapers including the Andre Kikoski Architect firm which just wrapped up the complete renovation of two empty, abandoned warehouse buildings on 22-28 Wyckoff Ave.

Today three new retail tenants as well as an organic market and a boutique wine shop are doing business in this newest, 'mixed use' development project in Brooklyn's emerging Bushwick neighborhood. Somewhat unique is that all five stores feature horizontally opening 'bifold' doors manufactured by a Minnesota firm, Schweiss Doors.

Why Schweiss bifold storefronts in Brooklyn, New York? Simplicity would be the single, functional word. Open your bifold each morning and your entire store front is indeed 'open for business' to shoppers rediscovering this unique slice of old Brooklyn!

Classy Schweiss door open at wykoff

Classy looking doors serving dual purpose

In the lexicon of the architect firm, the design solution is highly inventive-relying upon motorized scissor door technology adapted from airplane hangars and factory buildings. The five pairs of moving facade panels create an ever-changing expression of tectonics and purpose. By day, the panels fold up to create awnings for the stores and to shelter pedestrians, By night they secure the shops behind them and create an artful facade, which is defined by a flowing abstract gradient pattern of internally illuminated laser cut corten and stainless steel.

Explained architect Adam Darter, "In the process of designing new frontage, we wanted structural integrity that also provided strong security for each store front. So a cohesive door system that complimented all five storefronts was important.

"We knew about bifold doors but had never worked with them. Our access to Schweiss Doors was through the Internet and it proved to be quite an eye-opener for us.

"Our firm focuses very strongly on the aesthetics so the idea of a bifold door totally encompassing the entire frontage of each store was a bit of a challenge."

Schweiss has specific structural requirements relating to the positioning of its doors, particularly header requirements and trusses. "Coordinating our architectural details to match with their requirements so that everything blended as uniformly as possible was a great collaboration starting with initial design right on through shop drawings and the final build-out," noted Darter.

Since the Schweiss bifold door system was new to the Kikoski Architecture firm (180 Varick Street, New York), incorporating bifold doors into this total renovation was indeed a significant 'learning process.' "Important to us was how we could push this new concept and create even more aesthetic value. A reliable security gate was needed but we didn't want to do the standard 'roll down' storefront which you see everywhere in this area."

The Schweiss bifolds have 2-inch tubular steel frameworks with cladding applied on both front and back sides. For the front side, the architects applied laser-cut corten steel panels which strengthens the steel as it rusts. The entire building frontage is also clad in corten providing a 'natural rust' look to the entire facade. Inside skin of the bifold doors is non-directional brushed stainless steel panels. Adding to the special looks is internal LED lighting between the panels.

Schweiss bifold doors with rusted metal decor

Bifold doors bring the modern look to an existing structure.
When doors are closed, who would ever know there's a store behind the scenes

Schweiss bifold doors with rusted metal decor

Bifold doors create an awning for the storefronts when open.
Creativity at its best... Rust Doors that offer the New Look

"The lighting reflects off the stainless steel which gives that cavity area a special glow," related Darter. Lumen Architecture was the lighting designer on this particular job. Once again a series of shop drawings and actual mockups were part of the process.

Each of these bifolds is 18' tall giving 9' vertical clearance in the open position plus some shade and weather protection. Both 20' and 14' widths make up the five storefronts. Even with a very aggressive building schedule Darter said the Schweiss team back in Minnesota worked diligently to meet the construction deadline.

"They pushed to facilitate us as best they could. We'd certainly recommend other architectural firms take a look at Schweiss. We took their commercial airplane hangar door and brought it to a whole different vernacular and language.

"That was the fun of this particular project. For any architectural firm the challenge is exploring different products and then working hand-in-hand with the manufacturer to get the best out of that product. That was certainly our experience with Schweiss," indicated Darter.

Concluded Andre Kikoski, "We wanted to create an iconic building to speak to the neighborhood's emerging future as a center of art and creative energy so we designed a unique facade that is dramatic, inventive and inspired by the industrial qualities of the neighborhood's past.

"With cutting-edge technologies and construction techniques, we transformed this 100 foot long, 18 foot tall and 2-inch facade into a contemporary mural of light and texture. As an expression of our trademark inventiveness and poetry and as an innovative approach to recycling buildings and creating a destination environment with an economy of means, the Wyckoff Exchange is truly a welcome development in this quickly evolving and dynamic neighborhood." www.akarch.com or go info@akarch.com

Open Schweiss door at wykoff

Modern look and the large storefront doors provide excellent security for the businesses after-business hours

Photo of the Day Story

Hugging the southwest corner of Long Island, New York, Brooklyn's earlier identity was mostly hitched to Coney Island beach and the Brooklyn Dodgers of baseball immortality. Today the city is enjoying a renaissance of rediscovery by artists, retailers, ambitious contractors and creative landscapers including the Andre Kikoski Architect firm which just wrapped up the complete renovation of two empty, abandoned warehouse buildings on 22-28 Wyckoff Ave.
Read More And See A Lot More

Photo of the Day Story

Consolidation is that aggressive word which has been enveloping agricultural business for several years now. In simple terms, it results in fewer but bigger. And that certainly is the recent history of the farm implement business, which used to pride itself on having eight, 10, even 12 or more dealerships per county. Today three or four farm equipment dealers per county is more the usual. But ownership of farm implement stores today often includes multiple locations throughout an entire state.
Read More And See A Lot More

Photo of the Day Story

Flying since he got the bug when working the fishing canaries in Alaska, Eric Hutchins, Grand Rapids, MN, has a rather diversified agenda these days. For example he runs a year-round Dairy Queen in this bustling tourist center town. He also does some part-time law enforcement work and occasionally flies fire detection with the MN DNR. When time permits, high on his agenda is getting together with his snowmobile buddies for a few miles through the beautiful lake and woodland country of Itasca County.
Read More And See A Lot More

Photo of the Day Story

In September of 2009, we started the rehabilitation of Hanger 155 at Chippewa County International Airport in Kincheloe, MI. Our first step was to remove 60 years worth of lead paint from the existing steel substructure and miles of asbestos-containing material. When the building was safe to work in, our demolition subcontractor started on the roof system.
Read More And See A Lot More

Photo of the Day Story

It's big, 43,500 square feet. It has a special floral display unit out front courtesy of the employees and the general contractor. You walk into an 'eye catching' 100' x 160' 'Consumer Display' section complete with a 10' high shelf showcasing various John Deere 'consumer goods'. And greeting you at the retail counter is a colorful prairie scene with an old country barn, woodlots, fields of corn and wheat plus a depiction of the original 1-bottom plow that launched the John Deere machinery company. A show place of sorts? Yes, indeed.
Read More And See A Lot More

Photo of the Day Story

Well, it's all of the above for 62-year-old Daniel Shaw, a plumbing contractor at Geneva, Fla. Who has given new meaning to the term "hangar home." The structure is 50' wide x 60' deep x 30' tall, all metal/ However, a 45' x 15' Schweiss hydraulic door sporting a wrap-around porch with decorator railing, table and chairs, a "walk through" door with stylish window, and veranda "roof" gets your attention.
Read More And See A Lot More

Photo of the Day Story

Schweiss Hydraulic and Bifold Doors recently installed four new hydraulic doors at the Renville County Fairgrounds located in Bird Island, MN. The Renville County Board approached Schweiss looking for a way to open up the event building located at the county's fairgrounds. The event building is used to host live bands, beer gardens and public auctions by Henslin Auction Services. Hydraulic doors seemed like the perfect solution to open up the building and allow easy access to the building for large groups of people.
Read More And See A Lot More

Photo of the Day Story

We're no longer just selling iron. Today we're selling precision farming products and that requires special training of both our personnel and our farm customers," says Paal Haug, general manager of Haug Implement with stores at Willmar and Litchfield
Read More And See A Lot More

Photo of the Day Story

The creativity of customers continues to be a driving force for many manufacturers. Take for example North Star Imaging, Inc., a Rogers, Minnesota manufacturer of industrial x-ray systems which are enclosed by a radiation shielding cabinet and access door and used by manufacturing firms in the aerospace, military, automotive, medical device, electronics, even the genetic seed industry and many more.
Read More And See A Lot More

Photo of the Day Story

How do you make the loading dock area for your store secure, yet still easily accessible and stylish? This Target store in North Carolina found the answer with two 39' x 17' bifold gates for their loading area. Give us your idea and we will get you the door.
Read More And See A Lot More

Photo of the Day Story

What looked like a near impossible situation without some totally new engineering design instead turned out to be a remarkable solution to an extreme challenge. The challenge? How to fit a "roof door" over a 20' by 30' sandblasting chamber used by SMS Millcraft, Oil City, PA. This firm specializes in refurbishing component parts for various Pennsylvania steel mills.
Read More And See A Lot More

Photo of the Day Story

It is rare that an Air Tractor dealership changes hands. It cant be done without an approval from Air Tractor, Inc. This requirement became all too apparent to Bill Taylor of Farm Air in Fairfield Illinois. Bill was starting to think about retiring from the business he formed in 1976. Shortly after forming Farm Air, Bill saw a need for Air Tractors in the Midwest, and approached Air Tractor about becoming a dealer. Over thirty successful years later, Bill decided it was time to sell Farm Air with its Air Tractor dealership intact.
Read More And See A Lot More

Photo of the Day Story

This custom set of Schweiss Bifold Doors was the perfect solution to provide a unique dining experience for this restaurant's patio bar customers.
Read More And See A Lot More

Footer