A revolving door is an entrance that is always closed. Because two or more leaves rotate inside a drum, there is never an open aperture between inside and outside, which is why revolving doors are used both for building climate control and for controlled entry. IDS supplies and installs the Atlas range — manual, automatic and security revolving doors, plus mantrap interlock booths — for commercial buildings across South Africa.
Manual revolving doors are pushed by the user and are the economical option for retail and hotel entrances where the main objective is stopping the constant draught and heat exchange of a swinging door. Automatic revolving doors turn under motor control with sensors that slow and stop the drum when someone hesitates or a trolley obstructs a leaf, and they suit corporate lobbies, hospitals and airports where accessibility and continuous flow matter.
Security revolving doors are the access control product. The drum is interlocked with a reader so it releases one quadrant per valid credential, which prevents tailgating without a guard standing at the entrance. Where the requirement is stricter — banking halls, data centres, cash centres, control rooms — a mantrap interlock booth holds the person between two interlocked doors until the credential and, if configured, a weight or single-occupancy sensor confirm one person only.
The choice is usually driven by three factors: the security level required, the throughput at peak, and the building's energy performance. Revolving doors reduce the heated or cooled air lost at the entrance compared with sliding or swing doors, which shows up in HVAC running costs on large lobbies. Throughput is a function of drum diameter and rotation speed, and accessibility requires either a wide drum or an adjacent DDA-compliant swing or sliding door, which we specify as part of the entrance rather than as an afterthought.
Price is driven by door type, drum diameter, number of leaves, glass and finish specification, reader integration and the building work at the opening. Structural opening preparation, floor levelling and power supply are commonly the difference between two otherwise identical quotes, so we survey the opening before pricing.
Typical price range
Project-specific — manual units are the entry point, with security revolving doors and mantrap booths quoted per opening
Revolving doors are priced per opening because drum diameter, leaf count, finish and structural preparation dominate the cost. We survey the opening and quote hardware, building work and commissioning separately.
