Fawn Russell
Celsus: A Library Architecture Resource - Picture Book Museum, Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan (building) The 25 Most Modern Libraries in the World. New York’s Alternative Public Library. “There are 13,659 payphones on NYC sidewalks, even though there are over 17 million cell phones.
Is the pay phone an anachronism or an opportunity…” reads a poster graphic designed by New York architect John Locke. Locke is the architect behind the ‘Department of Urban Betterment,’ a New York-based interventionist project that is repurposing phone booths into communal libraries or book drops through the installation of hanging bookshelves milled from single sheets of plywood. According to Designboom, Locke’s easily replicable shelf hangs securely to the interior of the payphone without the aid of additional fasteners, and, importantly, it leaves the pay phone completely unobstructed and operable. Now miniature public libraries are popping up in Manhattan Valley and Morningside Heights. . City council reveals plans to breathe new life into Lochee High Street.
Getting started.