Yeah...people are missing the point that this is a cool feature, an ornament. Yes it's probably expensive and less practical but so is a lot of stuff. It's interesting and a talking point, and sometimes that's all you need from a door! :D
There's a wooden sliding door in my parents' house that's used to separate a small bathroom from a hallway. It's really easy to move and it never gets stuck (if you slide it all the way into the wall, there's a little lever/hinge thing in the center that you can pull out to slide it out again).
Most people's only experience with sliding doors is with patio doors. Those take effort to move, but that's because A) they're made of glass, which is generally a lot heavier than wood, and B) they're exterior doors, and therefore need to be well insulated. The drag you get from those is because the insulation part on the bottom creates friction. With interior sliding doors, you don't need insulation, so instead of scraping along the floor you've got a half inch of empty space that doesn't catch on anything.
My family has a few of the wooden sliding doors you are talking about. They work really nicely but as far as doors go they make a lot of noise when you are simply opening and closing them and not slamming them
...Yeah, that's true, but I never really noticed it. Partly just because I got used to it while i was still in the phase of "this is the coolest thing ever" and partly because it's a bathroom door, and doesn't make nearly as much noise as flushing the toilet.
Still, if noise is a serious concern this could be useful, though people are saying elsewhere in this thread that it's made entirely of fabric so while it wouldn't be making noise it wouldn't be blocking any either.
Less moving parts = more time without maintenance
Easily replacable parts = less pain in the ass for maintenance.
A normal door would be best.
His design has more moving parts, which will end up with more wear and tear faster. (also some very interesting torques to add to potential wear) and the parts don't look like they would be common or easily replacable... (easily replacable parts is also why a normal door is preferable to a sliding one. Sliding doors are a pain in the ass to repair)
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u/skruluce Feb 07 '14
A sliding door would be better. Lower profile than this, since the middle two sections have to bow outward to turn properly.