BookMobile

This compact Northwest DC apartment presented a dual challenge: accommodate a collection of thousands of books while introducing the flexibility to make "walls" appear and disappear allowing adjacent spaces to be joined or separate. The design response blurs the line between scale and utility, creating a dynamic environment where architecture becomes furniture, and furniture becomes architecture.

By removing the wall between the dining room and study, a suite of custom, mobile library shelves now serves as the primary space-maker. Guided by an overhead track and supported by wheels on the floor, these heavy-capacity units glide to reconfigure the rooms, offering varying degrees of privacy, enclosure, or openness.

Maximizing every square inch, even a former closet was transformed into a secret library alcove, concealed behind a moveable shelf unit. The resulting intervention turns a dense collection into a fluid system that reconfigures a mid-century urban apartment.

Awards + Recognition:

This Old House, BookMobile - 2020
Houzz - Ultimate Space-Boosting Ideas for Small Homes - 2018
Houzz - How to Grow the Peace Lily - Bookmobile - 2017
Houzz - Wheely Cool Furniture With Maximum Moveability - 2017
Small Space, Big Style HGTV Airing: Bookmobile - 2006
Philly.com, Home & Design section - 2009
ArchitectureDC - 2004

Project Team:

Gardner Architects LLC - Architect
Al Boland - Cabinetmaker