Wade Davis's round bookcase

[kestrell]

Kes: to tell the truth, I'm having trouble visualizing this from the description--is it like 180 degrees (a half-sphere) of books, or is it more like being inside a cylinder of books?
http://freshome.com/2012/02/24/round-bookcase-hovering-above-davis-writing-studio/

Comments

[kestrell]

Thanks!

[capri0mni]

It's like being inside a cylinder, but it's recessed into the ceiling, seven feet above your head... and the only way to reach the books is up a single, steep ladder, and there is no floor inside the cylinder, itself, on which to stand.

Therefore, as a wheelchair-using book lover with almost no innate sense of balance, this bookshelf is like something out of a very plausible nightmare: otherworldly and stress-inducing, in that I can see what I need, but have no way to get to it.

And really, how are even the bipedally mobile folks supposed to climb back down the ladder once they have their desired book in hand, or, heaven forfend, two books? It's very impressive, visually. But the only way I see it working as a practical way to actually use the books in your library is if you happen to be a graduate of Hogwarts, and have mastered the nuances of levitation spells...

[kestrell]

Ohhhhhhhh, *now* I get it!

This post created a lively discussion over on my LJ, including comments by another blind woman who was just as confused as I was. Since none of the sighties were also wheelchair users, they failed to convey the vital fact that this bookcase only *began* at a level above the writer's head. As I mentioned there, blind women have this strange preoccupation with universal design.

[capri0mni]

Now... one way I can imagine it being a very cool bookcase indeed is if it were, in fact, on some sort of hydraulic lift, or a system of cables, like an elevator, so I could push a button on my desk or chair, and have the bookcase descend to my level (so it would surround me, and I'd be hidden)... and maybe even further into the floor, so I could lower the higher shelves down to within an easy arm's reach. And then, after the books have been gathered, push the button again and have it recede back to the ceiling, high above.

"The vital fact that this bookcase only began at a level above the writer's head."

A six foot tall man, standing on tip-toe, wouldn't even be able to touch the "floor" of this book-space with the tips of his fingers. He'd have to climb the ladder even for that.

Like I said: a fabulous design for a writer in Hogwart's. But for us muggles? Not so much.

In the ceiling at the top of the shelf-cylinder is a massive square skylight, so the light comes down, is reflected off the spines of the books, and fills the writing space below. So looking up into the space from directly below gives one a sense of Renaissance proportion and geometry. Visually, it's gorgeous. But I'd hate to think what would happen to *all the books* if that skylight ever started leaking.

Dreamt up by someone, clearly, who sees books only as design elements, and nothing to actually be used and loved.