This may be the digital age when everything has gone paperless and people digest literature through tablet readers and audiobooks, yet the love affair with a beautifully or cleverly integrated bookcase continues to endure in design, today. Here are some recent projects that have titillated us with their solutions — and product suggestions for creating your own.
INSPIRATION
House AB. Barcelona by Built Architecture
In a bold move, Built Architecture created a series of three linear storage-furniture volumes that form the spine of a Barcelona residence, becoming a division between public and private spaces. Constructed of oak, the pieces feature open shelving for books at four ends. The components were built 92 inches (234 centimeters) high, a comfortable and appropriate height when considering the human scale within a soaring-ceilinged 19th-century interior. The architects then crowned the volumes with a unifying black metal plate that is at once both subtle and defining.
House AB. Barcelona photography by Eugeni Pons
Nikken Space Design’s Own Office
The interior design firm’s own office in Osaka incorporates bleacher-style seating that doubles as book storage. The five-level system, which is positioned to offer city-skyline views through floor-to-ceiling windows, was built using recycled scaffolding planks.
Nikken Space Design photography by Nacása and Partners
Rosa and John’s House by Zminkowska De Boise Architects
In the renovation of an Edwardian-era townhouse in London, Zminkowska De Boise outfitted a split-level section of the home with wide steps leading up to the elevated, bay-window space. Openings in three of the risers stash stacked books, while the treads are deep enough to function as informal seating for the residents and their young children. At one side of the stairs is a built-in desk with additional shelving. The other side boasts a reading nook with a wall clad in the same herringbone-patterned parquet wood as the floor.
Rosa and John’s House photography by Tom Cronin
Casa Nirau by Paul Cremoux Studio
Paul Cremoux Studio designed a Mexico City home to be a highly sustainable abode that catches and reuses rainwater and implements strategic orientation for admitting natural light while controlling heat gain. As a result, the house boasts an operational cost of only $15 US per month — but it’s a visual masterpiece, as well. At its heart, a built-in wooden bookcase is truly a part of the architecture, enveloping three sides of the house’s floating staircase and forming a ground-floor wall and doorframe.
Casa Nirau photography by PCW
Biblioteca Conarte by Anagrama
This library in Monterrey, Mexico, serves the city’s council for culture and art. Anagrama devised a contemplative reading room with simply cushioned bleacher-style steps for seating and an eye-catching bookshelf system that curves into a distorted, trellis-like dome. The structure is composed of interlocking wood.
Biblioteca Conarte (also shown at top)
Muswell Hill House by Tamir Addadi Architecture
Charged with converting a London home’s loft space into a bedroom and study with bookcase, Addadi designed the bookcase element right into the loft’s new staircase by adding horizontal rails between the balustrade planks. The rods, panels and treads were then painted white to ensure a cohesive, clean appearance. Sections left open and devoid of books let through natural light from a newly inserted south-facing skylight at the top of the stairs.
Muswell Hill House photography by Tamir Addadi
PRODUCTS
Lema: Selecta System
Originally released back in the 1970s, this freestanding system is still going strong and is highly customizable to accommodate television and media equipment, door and window openings, double-height spaces and special displays. The units can have open fronts or doors or hold drawer systems. Fronts are available in a range of finishes, from metals and woods to colored opaque and clear glass.
Lema
This home furnishings company offers a myriad of shelving and bookcase styles and configurations including some modular, irregularly shaped and asymmetrical options. Coordinating tables, desks, sideboards and media storage units allow you to create a cohesive interior.
TemaHome
Made: Polygon Shelving Unit
For something both different and dynamic, consider a honeycomb-style bookcase such as Made’s Polygon. Designed by Luka Stepan, the system consists of eight undulating layers constructed from plywood and steel finished with walnut veneer or ash veneer in natural, gray or white. It measures 55 inches (140 centimeters) wide by 59 inches (150 centimeters) high and includes powder-coated steel bookend plates.
Made
This furniture producer offers customized flat-pack bookcases that can freely stand or be joined to walls for a built-in effect. For those on a budget, the company fabricates the systems in three different price categories with varying core, finish, edging and design options.
Tvilum
Nendo: Nest Shelf
At last fall’s London Design Festival, the Japanese design firm exhibited this expandable shelf system, which is composed of an aramid-fiber honeycomb material sandwiched between carbon fiber and finished with larch veneer. Collapsed, the shelf measures 26 inches (650 millimeters) wide; extended, it measures 51 inches (1,300 millimeters) and increases the number of compartments.
Nendo
Brave Space Design: Tetrad
Tetris, anyone? This Brooklyn-based design studio playfully recreates the shapes of the classic video game into modular units of a statement-making storage system. Each module is constructed with Lumber Core with walnut or ash veneer. Sets and individual pieces are available.
Brave Space Design
Objet Optimisé: L Shelf
These L-shaped bentwood pieces interlock — tool- and nail-free — to create easy, bespoke DIY bookcases. The plywood-and-beech units measure 15 inches (39 centimeters) wide and high by 12 inches (30 centimeters) deep and can be specified with a matte varnished birch or walnut finish.
Objet Optimisé
Moroso: Terreria
One can see and touch the rich materiality in the Terreria bookcase by Florence, Italy-based architecture firm Archea Associati for Moroso. The system comprises stackable, modular blocks made of clay in various colors and glaze options. Each unit measures between 9¾ and 13¾ inches wide by 15¾ high and 11¾ inches deep. Wall anchoring is recommended.
Moroso