Camera Dashboard: 30 in 30: #22

Monday, January 22, 2007

30 in 30: #22

Earlier this month Taschen - the German publisher of image-soaked, multi-lingual coffee table books on art, architecture, design, film, photography, and sex - opened its second store in the United States (after Los Angeles) and only its fifth store worldwide. The store is located in SoHo, down the street from the Alessi Store. I visited the bookstore for its warehouse sale over the weekend.

Taschen's store opened in late 2005 but closed on New Year's Day. It reopened about a year later so the interior by Philippe Starck could be outfitted with custom bookcases and plasma screens, among other modifications. It's opening now coincides with the closing of numerous independent bookstores, including Coliseum Books and Murder Ink, the world's oldest store devoted to mystery books. According to this article, New York state ranks dead last nationally in "bookselling stores per resident," an ironic fact for the literary heart of the country.

Even without the crowd the interior design is relatively simple. Leaning bookcases line the two side walls that are painted in bright colors with wavy patterns. These walls are illuminated by fluorescent fixtures mounted to the back of the bookcases. The image below is two images (one from each side) spliced together. It might appear confusing, but if you cover the right half with your hand you'll see the space behind the cases for the length of one side of the store. Between the bookcases are tables with extra storage underneath. As you can see from the image above, these middle tables contained the sale books.

Even though the store is open, apparently it's incomplete. The rear of the store is a double-height volume defined by bare concrete walls, a dramatic change from the painted patterns at the front of the store. The other day one could see the space below from the simple glass guardrail, but the stair was closed with signs of ongoing construction apparent. Is it additional store space? Perhaps gallery space? Who knows, though hopefully it's not another year before we find out.