“For each function its material; for each material its form and its ornament,” wrote Violet Le-Duc in 1872.

The revolution of form and material that followed, from which sprang architectural modernism, led to an embrace of minimalism and a near total rejection of architectural ornament. Unfortunately, the iconic modernist spaces created in the heyday of this revolution, even this one by Mies van der Rohe, often suffer from reverberation due to the stark, unornamented planar surfaces.

If we are going to stay true the spirit of the space, the formal purity of these environments rejects the possibility of treatment with acoustic products. Our approach makes use of the intrinsic properties of a voluminous collection of books, composed on a tensioned book shelf system. This can achieve similar results to manufactured acoustic products without creating a material and formal dissonance with the room in which they are situated. 

Book stacks are a welcome addition, even in modernist environments. They are inviting, humanizing, personally beloved, and intended for display. They enhance both the visual and acoustic characteristics of a room.

The conditions of the otherwise empty space were measured before and after adding all of the books to the bookshelves to demonstrate the effectiveness of the application.

Location Detroit

Collaborator Misha Volf