Design Distinction

Open-Book Store
At New York's sprawling Armory Show of contemporary art last year, Acconci Studio turned a bookstand for D.A.P. (Distributed Art Publishers) and the Deitch Projects gallery into a five-day spectacle of transparent acrylic on a mere $54,000 budget. The Open-Book Store's sliced planes spiraled, intersected, and soared ceiling-ward while suspended from steel cables. "You walk through a sea of books around islands of books," the designers wrote in their entry form. "You pick up books at your ankles, at your waist, at your head." The 1,270-square-foot installation also had practical angles: Its folds and tilts concealed storage areas for inventory, funneled customers toward the cash register, and provided out-of-reach overhead slots for rarer, more expensive editions. "There's a casualness yet a very studied quality to it," Carpenter noted. The design reminded Lignano of his favorite parts of Barnes & Noble: the easy-to-peruse tables. Of the D.A.P. stand, he said, "I love how the books float face-up, as if they were thrown there. It's a well-executed, fun, innovative idea." Kroloff added, "It overturns conventions, but purposefully, without being silly."

Design Acconci Studio (Brooklyn, NY): Vito Acconci, principal; Dario Nunez, Ezio Blasetti, Nathan DeGraaf, Eduardo Marques, designers
Client D.A.P.
Materials Double-skinned transparent acrylic panels, steel cable
Software Rhino, Maya, AutoCAD