BRADLEY SANDERS

Cantilevered Railings

CONTENTS:

This series is after Hector Guimard, who designed the wrought iron entrances to the Paris Metro. The first handrail in the series is on the left.

I designed and rendered this rail, and my employee Herb Fleming fabricated it for Mellow Moods on German Street in Shepherdstown.

This is the second handrail in the series, which I designed and fabricated for a private client. This rail is a single rail for a porch; with more developed terminals, both on the rail and at the base.

My primary focus in this series is to develop a feel for how the iron would grow out of the earth if it had a life of its own, which is what I think Guimard expressed so well. On both handrails, the structure is doubled 3/4" x 1-1/2" iron.

In the first set of rails I kept the details fairly restrained with simple termination curves in the caprail and ha'penny scrolls in the body.  

On the second rail I worked the caprail into a twisted scroll top and bottom, and  added two leaf scrolls at the bottom to spring the piece out of the stones below.

There is also a difference in the foot of the rails, defined by the material to which it is attached. 

On this rail, the first parameter is to avoid attaching anything to the antique wood trim.

The actual attachment in this rail is below ground- a square tube set in concrete into which the 1-3/4"tapered vertical is inserted.

The leaf forms provide additional lateral support. There is no other connection.

Following are two handrails currently in development in the forge. Both are for private clients and both represent further development of the cantilevered rail design.  These are photos from both rails as they are in development.