Commercial entrances work harder than residential ones. They cycle constantly, they carry ADA and egress requirements, and they take impact from carts, luggage and crowds while still holding the design intent of the space. Steel is specified for these openings because it absorbs that duty on a slender frame.
This guide covers the two configurations that account for most commercial steel entrances, what governs the choice between them, and what to confirm before specifying.
Swing Doors
The default commercial entrance. A single or paired leaf on hinges or a pivot, sized to the opening rather than to a stock unit.
Swing configurations suit entrances where the opening width is fixed and the door has to meet accessibility and egress requirements. Clear opening width, threshold height and hardware operating force all govern here, and all three are determined by the project rather than by the product. Every PINKYS door is made to order, so the configuration is built to whatever the project requires, and the Studio Steel specification team confirms the requirement during the CAD drawing stage.
For paired entrances, the meeting stile and astragal detail matter more than they do residentially, because the pair will be operated independently thousands of times a year.
Bi-Fold and Multi-Fold
Where the entrance is meant to open rather than to be passed through. Restaurant frontages that fold back to the street, hotel lobbies that open to a terrace, retail frontage that disappears during trading hours.
The engineering question is different from a swing door. Panel count, stack width and panel weight all interact: more panels means a narrower stack but more hardware and more sealing points. Track and roller selection follows from panel weight, which follows from glazing build-up.
Bi-fold works best where the opening is wide relative to its height and where the stack has somewhere to go. Worth resolving stack location in schematic design, because it is the constraint that most often forces a redesign later.
Choosing Between Them
Fixed opening width, constant traffic, egress duty points to swing.
Wide opening, seasonal or daily opening to outside, frontage that is part of the experience points to bi-fold.
Both in one project is common. A hotel with a swing main entrance and bi-fold restaurant frontage is a single specification conversation, and running both on the same profile system keeps sightlines consistent across the building.
What Governs the Specification
System. Air Series carries the largest openings at the lowest weight and cost, since a tubular section reaches the same structural performance with less material. Ottostumm Mogs W50 TB and Jansen Janisol Arte 2.0 are the thermally broken options where the opening is conditioned and an energy code applies.
Operation. Every operable leaf adds hardware, sealing and fabrication. On a schedule with many openings, the fixed-to-operable ratio moves the total cost more than most specifiers expect.
Accessibility. ADA governs commercial entrances on threshold height, clear opening width and hardware operating force. Configurations are built to the project's requirement and confirmed during drafting.
Hardware. Panic hardware, exit devices and automatic operators can be accommodated on custom configurations. Bring the requirement to specification and the team will confirm the build.
Structural. Assemblies are fabricated to the loads and anchoring details the project's engineer of record specifies.
Lead Time
12 to 15 weeks from the date the CAD drawings are signed. Nothing enters production before that, so review time sits ahead of the quoted lead time rather than inside it.
Specifying a Commercial Entrance
Share the drawing set, opening schedule and performance requirements. The Studio Steel specification team will confirm the configuration, produce architecturally detailed CAD drawings for every opening, and work the submittal through with you.
Where the entrance is a conditioned opening, the frame will need a thermal break. For how the barrier is engineered and what it does to whole-unit performance, see thermal break technology. For which openings an energy code actually requires it on, see our guide to thermally broken steel and energy code.
