A recent project involved the design of Art Deco folding security panels to secure the alcoholic assets of a CBD Sydney bar. The Reagh Bar at the Castlereagh Boutique Hotel needed to leave their bar stock on the shelves behind the bar rather than having to put it all away each night and re-stock the following evening.

The Art Deco era Castlereagh Hotel opened on September 12th, 1927 and was built by the New South Wales Masonic Club. It was the first reinforced concrete building in the Sydney CBD and, at the time, was the tallest building in Sydney with 12 floors. Its construction set the precedent for future CBD buildings. It has been the base for the Masonic Club ever since and they wanted something sympathetic to the Art Deco era of the hotel for the folding security panel design.

Our PLAZA style Art Deco design was selected as the optimum style for the folding panels. The design brief was for security panels that could be easily locked and opened and not be too obtrusive. A set of six centre opening Art Deco style panels were designed that satisfied the brief while keeping the overall look light and airy. Clear polycarbonate panels were attached to the back of the folding panels to prevent access to the the bottle stock through the steel bars when the panels were locked closed.

The following photos illustrate the construction of the folding panels. To keep the visual impact of the bars to a minimum 20mm wide framing was chosen. To avoid having two adjacent 20mm vertical bars together making 40mm wide vertical sections 20x10mm solid steel verticals were used which presented a combined 20mm width overall. This made attaching the clear polycarbonate back panels difficult. Since each panel required forty screws to attach to the frames they had to be individually drilled and tapped into the solid 20x10mm sections to accommodate the fastening screws.

The geometry of the six folding panels was crucial and they had to be millimetre perfect so they would meet in the middle of the bar section and lock together.

The top and bottom sections of the frames were hollow 20x20mm SHS steel and only 1.6mm thick so 12mm thick sections had to be fitted into them so the pivots had something solid to screw into.

(Click on an image for a larger view.)

Fitting 12mm steel plates into the top and bottom frame sections to attach pivots

Vertical bar section hinges showing open/closed positions.

To keep the overall look light and airy the clear panels needed to screw directly to the back of the 10mm wide vertical bar sections. This required drilling and threading for 240 screws. To simplify construction the panel operation geometry was done before the design was welded into them.

Drilling and tapping holes for attaching clear polycarbonate panels to frame

Checking the geometry of the folding panels before fitting the design

Once the panel folding geometry had been confirmed the PLAZA design was jigged into place in the frames and welded in position.

Laying out the design in a jig before welding everything together

Completed side with design in test frame to double check geometry

The clear polycarbonate panels were attached after all the welding was completed. To accurately drill the screw holes in the panels dummy screws with sharpened heads were fitted into the screw positions and the polycarbonate was hit lightly with a hammer over each screw point to indicate where the holes should be drilled. Preliminary testing of the panel operation is shown in the video below.

Fitting polycarbonate sheets to back of frames

All polycarbonate panels fitted and fitted to test frame to check alignment

The folding panels are supported and slide inside tracking sections at the top and bottom. The bottom tracking can be removed when the panels are stowed open on each side. When closed the panels are secured together with a pivoting drop bolt. The operation of the panels is shown in the video at the end of the post.

Installed panels closed

Installed panels opened

Front view of closed panels

Front view of opened panels