Not Your Traditional Bookcase – Viewer Project

This week’s project comes from Andres. It’s one of those “outside the box” concepts that really makes you stop and take notice. I think he succeeded in redefining the traditional bookcase. Let’s check it out:

dscn3082-largeI’ve been following your video podcasts rather closely for quite some time. My girlfriend has been insisting that I write to you for some time too. My name is AndrÃ?©s and I live in Argentina (if in doubt, type the following coordinates into Googe Earth: S 34Ã?°32Ã?´23″, W58Ã?°30Ã?´08″ and youÃ?´ll fly straight to my street) DonÃ?´t you just love technology?. IÃ?´ve been carving wood for the last 6 years, but I donÃ?´t dare call myself a carver. IÃ?´ve ventured into carpentry 3 years ago. Nowadays, my projects are a combination of both disciplines. Having learned AutoCAD (pre-Sketchup era) has had a profound impact in my projects.

dscn3084-largeI thought IÃ?´d give it a try and send you pictures of an old project of mine. It’s called “WM” and itÃ?´s a bookcase. I think that whatÃ?´s cool about this project is not the craftsmanship behind it (since itÃ?´s butt-joint plywood with a paint finish), but the design and the concept behind it. I am an avid reader and when I moved into my new house, I needed a cool looking bookcase to house my books. I started looking around for inspiration when I realized that 99% of all bookcases IN THE WORLD hold their books in an upright position with horizontal shelves. So I set out to destroy the norm. After 4 or 5 different approaches, I came up with this design that resembles the letter M behind a letter W. To give it more of a perception of depth, I brought the “W” forward, offsetting it from the wall some 5 inches (I use the metric system). Thanks to working with CAD, assembling the cut list was only a matter of seconds after I finished drawing it. The task would have probably taken days with any old school method. The only tools involved were a circular saw and a cordless drill. Pretty effortless to be honest. The only other thing I really had to sleep on, was choosing the colors. The whole thing probably took me 3 full days.

Hope you find it inspiring. Keep up the good work, and thanks for taking the time to input your craft into the cyberspace. Saludos desde Argentina, Andr�©s

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Comments

  1. Mart�­n Benitti May 21, 2009

    Good job Andr

  2. Kris Lauer May 21, 2009

    Wow, That’s cool. Good job.

  3. emmrys May 22, 2009

    Very cool design. I was immediately thinking what this would look like in two contrasting woods.

  4. Luddite's R Us May 22, 2009

    Adres,
    Fantastic concept! Not being very good (read useless) with design program’s just looking at the pic’s is making my brain hurt. I wonder how many sheets of paper I’d go thru (seeing as Marc is American, I decided to go with the American spelling for THROUGH) ;)

  5. Keith D May 22, 2009

    It is somehow fitting that you have a copy of Vertigo sitting on your shelf:)

  6. Andr�©s Briano May 22, 2009

    Thanks to the kind words of those who replied. I want to get back to my fellow countryman Martin, who is worried about functionality given the steep angle of the shelves. If you don

  7. kentuckybill May 23, 2009

    Keith D says:
    May 22, 2009 at 1:45 pm
    It is somehow fitting that you have a copy of Vertigo sitting on your shelf:)

    Hey Keith I was thinking the same thing. This is really a thinking out of the box design. The last pic loaded with books really made me dizzy though. Err dizzier..

    Nice job Andres!

  8. Fer Cava May 25, 2009

    Great project

    Congrats and go ahead with new designs !

  9. Rainer Arndt January 12, 2012

    Interesting and unusual.
    I live in Arlington , Virginia and am looking for someone to build
    single bookshelf up close to the ceiling that would wrap around
    three walls.
    Any one know who might be up for this project?
    Please contact me at 571 214 8820
    Thank you

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