Friday 19 June 2015

Day 170: book-built book shop

Our new building has some intriguing design features, especially in the shared areas. The front panel of the reception desk is skinned with old metal printing plates of long-past front pages. I am assuming they are reproductions as they seem very clean if not!

Our tech desk (think laptop, iPhone, Android doctors) have their walk-up desk covered in old keyboards. And nearby there’s a small sitting are which has large squishy rectangles covered in a straw fabric to look like hay bales as random seating. The library has lamps constructed from old typewriters, large wing armchairs and other quirky lighting.

My favourite is the book shop though; we have a book shop with the wall made out of real books. There aren’t just books stacked up against a wall as you can walk around the book dividing wall and examine the spines. The overhead lights here are fashioned to resemble books too. The funky lights aren’t too bright though, so the less prosaic ceiling lights are needed too.

If we have any visitors I have to show them our book shop made of books as no one really believes it until they’ve seen it. Everyone goes to examine whether they are real books (they are) and if they can remove one from the stack (you cannot). I am not sure how the book wall is constructed; it seems very sturdy so I suspect the books are no longer readable because they’ve been glued, drilled, pinned or whatever. Very wise though, some have the tendency is to see if the entire construction is a little like Jenga and you could push a book through to the other side. Imagine what sort of dramatic page-turner that would make if you could!

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