I would try to stay with the glass. While the pivot door is way cool, the all glass look is very distinctive and I think an important statement.

I'd keep a portion of it glass and do the pivot door like that posted photo for a little more privacy. All that glass (which you are probably used to) would make me feel like a fish in an aquarium! But, wow! What a cool house! You keep showing little snippets here and there and I just love it!

I prefer the privacy -- and maximum COOL of the pivoting door .... but here's a pin board with modern front doors .... just for discussion .....

Here is a link that might be useful: Pinterest -- pin board Modern front doors

I love the look of the glass for your house. Since you've lived with a glass door and are able to function with that feature I would stick with glass.

pipdog, the pivot door you posted is beautiful. If you really want full glass maybe something like this could work?

I vote for more privacy and the pivot door. Love your house!

I'd go for the wooden pivot door for the privacy and the cool factor.

That pivot door is way cool. I like it with some glass on the sides as shown. Best of both worlds.

Take a look at crest view doors, they produc mcm doors. I like the glass entry, but maybe frosted or receded glass would give you more privacy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Crest view doors

Your home is beautiful and the glass only adds to the loveliness. I could not sacrifice the architect's dream by removing this door and changing it for something else, but I could never live with the total lack of privacy. I would probably sell the house to someone who loved it and liked the look and find something more to my needs. Yes, I am a bit goofy but I could not destroy the integrity of design nor live in a goldfish bowl.

I think a pivot door with full glass sidelights would be great, and wouldn't compromise the architectural integrity of the house as long as it's done well.

As for the material - does the exterior of your house have wood already? I don't know that I'd do a wood door if that would be adding a new material to the house. I know you have a lot of wood on the interior, but if the exterior is all brick and painted siding, I think I'd want the door to be painted.

Do you have a picture of the exterior of the house from further back?

But, doesn't the recessed nature of the entry provide privacy? This isn't a center hall colonial.

And, by the same token, doesn't the recessed entry need to be counterbalanced by all the glass, so as not to be dark?

I would try to hew to the architect's vision.

I think you are serious about keeping the integrity of MCM which you would do with the pivotal door.
Yes even though the entrance is recessed, you have a delivery person, neighbor or friend getting a full view into your house when they ring your doorbell. To me, not ideal for a family with young children.
The door can always be changed out again the future as your needs change.

mtn, I love the glass too and want to respect the architect's vision. Your point about the darkened entryway is a really good one and the main reason why a solid wood door is giving us pause about changing it out. What do you think about the option below?

cksquared, thanks -- hopefully I'll be able to do a proper reveal in a few months once the kitchen is finished.

ellendi, the FedEx guy has seen me in a towel on more than one occasion. The house remains very private from the street, but once you are in our driveway or entryway alcove, you can see into the main living areas of the home.

petepie, thanks for the link. They have some amazing doors!

yillimuh, we don't currently have any wood on the front of the home -- it is siding and the square stones. But the exterior is going to get an overhaul in 3-5 years including painting, replacing the siding, etc and we may add some slatted wood on the house.

arapaho, I think that glass door would be a good compromise!

olychick, yes -- so many people find our sliding glass doors confusing as our front entrance.

teacats, thanks for the inspiration -- some really cool doors on that site.

thanks annie, joanie, patricia and msrose!

The issue with replacing the sliders is that installation of new sliders is a huge ordeal -- we can't retrofit them as the new Fleetwood doors have a much larger profile than our older doors, so significant structural work would need to be done to replace the sliders with similar glass doors. It's a huge, expensive job.

So we're considering moving our front door to the front of the alcove below where the header is and where the pebbles start (this is an old photo with the previous owner's drab curtains drawn):

and putting in doors like this, either wooden or painted (?):

[Modern Entry[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/modern-entryway-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_741~s_2105) by Sausalito Architects & Designers Quezada Architecture

We would then take down the existing sliders and just make an interesting transition from the "outside" to our foyer. This option would give us a place for us to remove our shoes and put a fountain. We could still use glass doors and it might give us slightly more privacy.

thoughts?

No! In my opinion those curtains look really strange, like you went for glass but couldn't bear to live with it.
Have you lived in the house with the glass door for a while? If yes, are you ok with the lack of privacy?
I personally like that pivot door with glass. It still let's in light, provides privacy, and looks more substantial, i.e. like a front door.

The glass doors above are pretty, but Im not sure how they would provide more privacy...especially if you bump them out towards the front of the house.

It sounds like replacing the current sliders is out of the question. How about a door with frosted glass?.... you'll get privacy and light.

IMHO, the doors you show above are only a minor compromise from the original, so i give them a thumbs up. I like them because they do transmit more of a "this is our front door" message.

I understand the functional reason for wanting to ditch the recess. but I think the recess is an important and distinctive feature. Maybe there is a compromise; move it half way?

I like the glass doors Arapaho posted, or the similar ones you posted last. That doesn't help with the privacy though, unless you could put sheers on the doors themselves and not have to pull a curtain every time you wanted to open the door.

Oh, I like the recess. Perhaps what you might consider would be to do the glass doors where they are and then add a contemporary looking gate for privacy near the opening, so you'd have an exterior entry area.

[Modern Landscape[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/modern-landscaping-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_728~s_2105) by Santa Monica Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers MTLA- Mark Tessier Landscape Architecture

[Modern Entry[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/modern-entryway-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_741~s_2105) by Tel Aviv Architects & Designers Amitzi Architects

[Industrial Exterior[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/industrial-exterior-home-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_736~s_2113) by Springfield General Contractors Monticello Homes & Development

[Contemporary Entry[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-entryway-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_741~s_2103) by Berkeley Architects & Designers WA design

I am going to throw out another theory about architecture, integrity and budget:

I think that the architect's original vision was often affected by budget and other compromises. Frank Lloyd Wright was not often affected by budget, but he was often affected by current technology. His ideas didn't have the supporting materials and technology for them to work very well and he built a lot of leaky, troublesome buildings.

I live in a modernist house in a fairly rare modernist neighborhood (developers and buyers pretty much quickly rejected the brief period of modernism for faux-historical-ish contemporary. Individual clients still built some modernist houses)

The architects in my neighborhood were definitely limited by budget. There is a glass wall in my house that was originally two by fours and sheet glass held in by quarter round. That's not really a very good window. Even the cheap replacements some people have put in are better than that. Some of them don't Look better but they are actually a window. But what the wall really needs to Look right and Function right is really expensive.

So I wonder if the architect really intended the front door to be a flimsy-ish slider or whether he intended it to be a much better door that was mostly glass.

Just thinking, one thing I like about Annie's gate idea is that you don't mess up any roof lines, then. If you extended the house, what would you do about the roof there?

Even so, using a gate, I would not go flush.