Just about everything in the Rem Koolhaas-designed Seattle Central Library [0] is far-out, so it's not surprising that the library gift shop has a clever set-up. When it's closed, the third-floor retail store known as the FriendShop [0] resembles a giant, sky-colored box. During business hours, it slides apart into five separate structures loaded with gifts and artwork crafted by local artists.
Koolhaas designed the shop based on library compact shelving, says store manager Lisa Lee, who is part of the grassroots organization known as the Friends of the Library. About 33 Friends of the Library volunteers and four staffers manage the shop and use revenue to support library programming, like cultural events. "We fill in the gaps the city budget may not necessarily provide for," Lee says.
For the month of March, patrons will find much of the inventory marked down while the shop reduces inventory for a temporary relocation. It will move to the first floor in April and May while renovations are completed and return to the third floor in June, with expanded space.
That means there will be more room for customers to browse for trinkets, like a "magic" eyeglass case that changes color and a set of refrigerator magnets that depict famous authors like Shakespeare and Hemingway.
Since he's the innovative type, we're guessing Koolhaas would go for the set of vases and bowls made from recycled magazines, but he'd also be tickled to find T-shirts and mouse pads that capture his one-of-a-kind library architecture.
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
