Exterior · Expertise
Gates & Boundary Metalwork
The threshold, made to last.
A gate is the one piece of architectural metalwork that is also a machine: it has to look right standing still and work right ten thousand times.
A boundary gate lives a harder life than anything indoors. It is opened and closed more times than any door in the building, it takes the weather from every side, and it is the first thing a visitor forms an opinion about — usually before the car has stopped.
That means two designs happening at once. One is what the gate looks like: a louvred face, a laser-cut brass screen, a slatted rhythm that continues into the fencing, studded copper, a wrought double leaf. The other is what makes it move: the hinge geometry, the weight the posts carry, the track a sliding gate runs on, and how the automation is hidden so the face stays clean.
The metal is chosen for the exposure as much as the look. Brass and copper weather into themselves; mild steel needs a finish that will not chip at the bottom rail where water sits; stainless steel holds its line for decades but has to be specified for the grade that resists the local air.
The fencing, if there is any, is drawn as part of the same piece. A gate that does not continue into its boundary reads as an object dropped in front of a wall rather than the wall’s own opening.
What decides the design
Start from the opening, not the pattern. How wide it is, which way the ground falls, whether the gate must slide because there is nowhere for it to swing, and how the cars approach — those settle the structure, and the structure settles what the face can be. A pattern chosen first and engineered afterwards is how gates end up heavier than they need to be, or beautiful and slow.
Then the exposure. A gate on a coastal road, a gate under trees, a gate on a plot that floods in the monsoon: each rules some metals and finishes out before taste comes into it. The sample for a gate is worth leaving outside for a fortnight before deciding.
How it is built
Where it is used
- Sliding, swing and bi-fold entrance gates
- Automated gates with concealed drives
- Louvred, slatted and laser-cut gate faces
- Boundary fencing and screening in the same language
- Pedestrian gates and side entrances
- Canopies and porte-cochère frameworks over the entrance
Photographs
Gates we have made
From the workshop and from finished interiors. Click a picture to see it larger.
Questions & answers
Questions about gates
Sliding gate or swing gate?
The site decides. A swing gate needs room to open into and a fairly level approach; a sliding gate needs a straight run of wall beside the opening to slide along, and a track or a cantilever to run on. Sliding suits tight forecourts and sloping drives; swing suits a wide, level entrance where the leaves opening is part of the arrival.
Can an existing gate be automated?
Often, if the gate and its posts are sound and the hinge geometry allows it. The drive has to be hidden, powered and reachable for service, and the gate has to be balanced enough for the motor to move it for years without strain. A gate that was never designed to be driven may need its hinges or posts rebuilt first.
More exterior work
Often specified together
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Have something extraordinary in mind?
Send a drawing, a sketch, or a photograph of something close to it. We will tell you what is buildable, what it costs and how long it takes.