Pivot Door Details: What the Architect Has to Draw

Oct 1

4 min read

Full height glass pivot door standing open to a concrete terrace and steps, with a woman walking through the opening

A pivot door looks simple once it is built. One panel, no visible hinges, a clean line from floor to ceiling. Getting there takes more drawing than a hinged door, because the parts that make it work are hidden in the floor, the head and the panel itself. Those parts have to be decided before the slab is poured and the header is framed.

This is a working checklist of the pivot door details an architect needs to draw: what belongs in the plan, what belongs in the section, and which decisions have to be made early. It does not replace the manufacturer's shop drawings. It is the list of questions those drawings have to answer.

1. Where the pivot sits: the plan

A glass pivot door closed, filling the entry opening from floor to canopy, with the living room visible through the glass

The pivot point sets how the door moves and how much of the opening people can actually use.

Center pivot or offset pivot. A center-hung door turns about its middle and splits the open doorway into two passages, one on each side of the panel. An offset pivot sits closer to one edge and leaves a wider single passage. Draw the axis on the plan and dimension it from the jamb.
Swing path. Show the full arc on both sides of the wall. A pivot door swings into both rooms, so furniture, steps and other doors have to stay clear on both sides.
Clear opening. Dimension the usable passage with the door fully open, not the rough opening.
Open position. Show where the door stops and whether it holds open.

2. The floor: the pivot below finished floor

The bottom pivot hardware sits at or below the finished floor, and that is where most coordination problems start.

Recess in the slab or subfloor. Get the hardware manufacturer's recess dimensions and show them in section, so the concrete or framing is ready before the floor goes in.
Finished floor build-up. Stone, tile and wood floors each change the depth. Show the full build-up at the pivot.
Where the weight goes. Check whether the hardware carries the door's weight at the floor or at the head. That decides where the structure has to be.
Access. Note how the floor hardware is reached for adjustment after the floor is finished.

3. The head: the top pivot and the header section

Top pivot. Show the top pivot in the head section and how it fixes to the structure above.
Deflection. A tall door needs a header that will not sag onto the panel. Coordinate the header size with the structural engineer.
Ceiling and trim. Decide whether the head is flush with the ceiling or framed, and draw the finish around it.

4. The threshold and weather seal

For an exterior pivot door, the sill detail carries most of the weather performance.

Threshold type. A flush threshold keeps the floor continuous and avoids a trip edge. A raised threshold can seal more easily. Choose early, because it changes the slab and the drainage.
Seals on all four edges. Show how the panel seals at the head, the sill and both vertical edges when closed.
Drainage. Show where water goes at the exterior sill, especially with a flush threshold.

Lucent's guide to pivot door installation covers the site side of this in more depth.

5. The panel: size, weight and hardware rating

Tall pivot door clad in horizontal wood slats standing open in a matching slatted wood wall

Finished weight. Add up the glass, cladding, core and frame. The finished panel, not the bare frame, has to fall within the hardware rating.
Hardware rating. Check it against that weight and against the panel size. On Lucent's pivot systems page, the Sosoares OS Pivotante is listed at up to 500 kilograms per leaf.
Handles and locks. Show pulls and locking hardware on the elevation, and confirm the lock works with the chosen pivot.

How the panel looks is its own set of decisions. Lucent's guide to pivot door styles walks through them.

6. If the door will be automated: the header again

Drawing of a glass pivot door with the DAS Pivot Series parts shown above it: header housing, motor, pivot plate, electronics and power whip

Automation used to mean an operator mounted where everyone could see it. A concealed system moves it into the header, which makes the head section the place to plan for it.

The drawing above comes from Door Automation Systems (DAS), which often automates Lucent doors. It shows DAS's Pivot Series: the motor, pivot plate and electronics sit in a housing above the door, with a flexible power whip for the electrical connection. The published specifications for the Pivot Series gives the published figures to design around:

an 8-inch housing above the door
a removable cover on the underside, which can be painted or veneered to match the frame
a 110-volt, 15-amp circuit
doors up to 12 feet wide by 20 feet tall
doors up to 2,000 pounds

For the head section, that means leaving room for the housing, keeping the cover reachable from below, and locating the circuit. DAS explains the system in more detail in its post on concealed pivot door automation.

7. What to show on each drawing

Plan: pivot axis, swing arcs on both sides, clear opening, open position.
Section through the sill: floor pivot recess, floor build-up, threshold, seal, drainage.
Section through the head: top pivot, header, ceiling finish, and the automation housing if there is one.
Elevation: panel size, pivot location, handles, locks and cladding.
Notes: finished panel weight, hardware rating, and power for automation.

The same thinking applies to other concealed details. Lucent's post on the block frame window detail shows how much of a clean line is decided in the section.

Seeing it built

Lucent's Tiburon Coast project opens with a substantial Sosoares pivot door at its entry. To talk through a pivot door on your project, contact Lucent.