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A Definitive Architectural Answer to the Problem of Never Having Enough Shelf Space

By Rain Noe - June 14, 2011

in Object Culture

At some point, maybe after running back to Ikea to buy your third "Billy," many of us bibliophiles have wondered what it would be like to have a home made entirely of bookcases. Well, the Shelf-Pod house designed by Kazuya Morita Architecture Studio comes pretty darn close.

The client owns an extensive collection of books on the subject of Islamic history, so he requested that we create this building with the maximum capacity for its storage and exhibition. In order to satisfy this demand effectively, we designed a lattice structure made from 25mm thick laminated pine-board which serve as book-shelves.

All of the architectural elements in this space (stairs, windows, desks, chairs, etc) have been designed on the basis of [a specific] shelf scale, with the aim of achieving geometrical harmony which is comparable to Islamic Architecture. This innovative structural system affords [a] large amount of book storage....

The shelving was precision-cut at a manufacturing facility, then trucked to the site for assembly. I wonder if the dozens of slotted pieces were easier or harder to put together than a Billy.

Overall I'm intensely envious, and am also wondering if the client has a good filing and cataloguing system. I know that even if I had this house, I'd spend 30 minutes at a time climbing around to find a particular book.

Lastly, in a perfect world the Shelf-Pod house owner would meet a woman who was a fashion expert, and Morita would design her a house made completely out of closets.

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Morgan

13 years ago

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Amazing. I could finally have enough room for all of my books. Could do without the author's sexist bs comment at the end about women and closets, however. I'm a woman and my books and DVDs take up far more room than clothing or shoes or any of that nonsense.
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lee haskell

13 years ago

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My cats would LOVE this room.
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Berkana

13 years ago

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This looked so familiar. Then I remembered seeing a room like this rendered in a CG animation short from a couple of years ago:

http://vimeo.com/7809605

Starting at 1:40 into the film, again at 5:48, 10:23. The last photo looks very reminiscent of the scene at 10:30.

I wonder if the architect of this shelf-pod house was inspired by this animation, or if the idea was arrived at independently. The resemblance of some of the interior is remarkable, even though this shelf-pod house is not at the scale of the library in the video.

Also, does anyone know the structures used in that CG animated short? I recognize the work of Calatrava in that video, and I'm wondering if that library full of square shelf lined walls isn't an existing structure somewhere.
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Pablo Noel

13 years ago

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it remembers me the "spice room" from the movie "spirited away"
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sen_to_Chihiro_no_kamikakushi )

A very traditional japanese architectural design.
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