A clever folding door from Austrian artist Klemens Torggler has been making the design blog rounds the past few days. It’s the kind of poetic reinvention of a familiar object that makes you wonder why nobody thought of such a radical innovation before. (Videos)

A look at Torggler’s website reveals that the refinement of his series of “flip panel” door prototypes is an ongoing design and engineering experiment:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umfvm8I9_oU[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XOCDLrfwh8[/youtube]

The latest incarnation, the Evolution Door, is engineered to move sideways without the use of a track. To open and close, four folding triangles seem to magically fold up over themselves. Soft edges keep worry warts from losing a digit:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFnbApNrQSk[/youtube]

Via Slate