This project marked a departure from the standard guardrail work we typically produce. Rather than the conventional approach — a guardrail built around perforated metal infill panels — this job called for a fully custom laser-cut guardrail panel, where the infill is formed by a continuous run of spindles rather than a flat perforated sheet. The design brief drew its inspiration from traditional Brooklyn wrought iron railings, known for their sinuous, interlocking scrollwork. Translating that historic language into a laser-cut steel panel meant preserving the organic, hand-forged feel of wrought iron while gaining the dimensional precision, repeatability, and structural predictability that laser cutting allows — a detail that would be far harder, and far more costly, to achieve with traditional forging.

1. Design & Engineering

Before any material was cut, the project went through a full engineering and design phase. Our team developed detailed shop drawings and ran the necessary structural checks — guardrail load capacity, wind load resistance, and full verification against local building code requirements — to make sure the finished railing wasn't just visually striking but fully compliant and safe for its application. The drawing set specifies every component: 2"x¼" square tube framing for the spindle pattern, ½" plate for the laser-cut sections, and an oval top cap profile that finishes the top rail. A second detail breaks down the top cap assembly at scale, showing exactly how the ½" plate, the 2"x½" flat bar, and the square tube posts come together — this level of documentation is what allows the shop floor to fabricate with confidence and what gives the engineering team the data needed to sign off on load and wind calculations.

Fig. 1 — Front Terrace Railing shop drawing: overall elevation, Section D-D, and oval top cap detail.

2. Shop Fabrication

Once the drawings were approved, fabrication moved into the shop. The laser-cut panels were cut to spec, and the individual spindle sections were then welded onto the vertical support posts to form the finished panel assemblies. The handrail was added as the final fabrication step, tying the panels together into a single rigid unit and giving the railing its finished, structurally complete form — ready to leave the shop.

Fig. 2 — Panel assembly on the shop floor: welded spindle sections and posts prior to shipping.

3. Transport & Installation

The completed guardrail was then shipped to the job site for installation. On-site mounting of the railing to the client's terrace was carried out by the installing subcontractor, not by our own crew — our scope ended at fabrication and delivery. The finished result brings together a design language rooted in historic Brooklyn ironwork with the accuracy of modern laser-cut manufacturing, and stands as a clear example of Artico Metals' ability to step outside standard product lines when a project calls for something more bespoke.

Fig. 3 — Installed railing on the client's terrace, finished in black.