The bookshop is located in the foyer of the Kulturforum in Berlin, a space dominated by a column grid and overlooked by three different floor levels with various orientations. Within this complex spatial setting, the proposal for the bookshop seeks a balanced relationship to it’s surroundings, neither blending in nor standing out.
Two elements define the new space: a curtain and a family of freestanding bookshelves.
The curtain forms a 12m × 12m square, defining the perimeter of the bookshop. The lightness and transparency of the fabric appeal to the senses and operate at a more human scale, in contrast to the impressive structure of it’s surroundings.
Freestanding bookshelves made of perforated steel sheets are placed along the path of the curtain, sometimes on the outside and other times on the inside. The shelves are open to the inside of the shop, whilst exposing their content to the outside. Other bookshelves and tables on the inside loosely define the internal circulation spaces.
- Location: Berlin
- Completion: 2014
- For: Buchhandlung Walther König
- Size: 152 m²