Knock-knock no more: Doors are being redesigned amid COVID-19

"We’re getting orders for five to six of them at a time; one for every member of a family, so we don't want the total cost running to $100," he said.Carrying such tools might not be for everyone, though, so some 3D-printing evangelists have altered the design of the door itself.It took engineers at Materialise, which runs Europe's largest 3D-printing factory, just three days to design, manufacture, refine and publish online printing blueprints for a device that can be installed on an existing door handle and allows it to be opened with a forearm instead of a hand.This site is protected by recaptcha Privacy Policy | Terms of Service"We didn’t invent sliced bread with this thing. His subsequent exploration of the phenomenon has even led to badly designed doors being dubbed "Norman doors."Norman thinks low-tech design solutions like foot-operated kick pedals at the bottom of doors will prove most effective in pandemic-proofing while avoiding the fate of the "Norman door.""The more technology you throw at a problem, the more things go wrong," he said.Psychologically, Norman believes that expanding the reach of pre-existing doors for people with disabilities — like automatic doors controlled by a button that can be activated with just an elbow — could also be key to getting a potentially skeptical public on board."I don’t want to tell people, 'This is what we put in to solve the pandemic.' Instead, we say, 'Hey, this is an easier to use door for people with children,' for example.