A bookish library parking garage

Photo: Library Parking Garage by jonathan_moreau

A Missouri library has a most appropriate parking garage design; a huge wall of book spines enclose it. (See image above.) From the SEGD's Design Awards post about it:

These well-known books on the parking garage have become some of the most recognizable and widely discussed additions to Kansas City's redeveloping core. The people of Kansas City were asked to help pick the titles of the books in order to truly represent their city. When first asked to design this project, Dimensional Innovations was asked to create a small graphic panel on the center of the book spines. When the vision grew to giant books, the challenge was to reproduce the books in a realistic way and within a set budget.

When I saw this, my first question was, "How did they do this?" In summary:

Rare books were professionally photographed and software used to modify and place the desired titles. To allow light into the parking garage, an aluminum substructure includes clear Plexiglas windows through the center of the books. 3M Scotchprint with translucent printing was applied to the substructure to create the books. The postcards on the street are enlarged from original 1920s postcards of the street where the garage is now located. Aluminum in lieu of plastic was used when possible.

I love how the wit and humor in this design has turned the ordinary into something fun and inspiring. The books featured outside the library may be among some of the most-checked-out inside it.

Found at deputydog

Comments

[rel]

kg,
Wow, that is so cool!
rel

[KG]

rel — Absolutely! I would love to drive up to the library and see this. It would be fun to feel like a visitor to a giant's book collection, peering up at the books...