apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time


Hot or Not? Platzhadler Expandable Bookshelves

12-1-expand-shelves-1.jpg

This bookshelf design from the Berlin-based design duo Farsen-Scoellhammer is akin to finding an extra closet in your home. The shelves are fitted with an additional board that allows the structure to stretch into a V-shaped shelf bursting with your book collection...

 
 

12-1-expand-shelves-2.jpg

The more books you add to the Platzhadler Expandable Bookshelves, the more the shelf expands until it reaches its physical limit. Via: notcot.org.


Tags

Hot or Not?, shelving & storage, books, Farsen-Scoellhammer

Related Links

Share

Comments (20)

As it is? Mm, not. If the bottom expanded as well as the top, very hot!

posted by Mrs.Mack on December 1st 2008 at 6:09pm
view Mrs.Mack's profile

"until it reaches its physical limit."

-- you mean, "until the whole thing falls over."

If the weight of the items isn't perfectly balanced, it's a disaster waiting to happen.

posted by nashdp on December 1st 2008 at 6:09pm
view nashdp's profile

Just
Get
Another
Bookcase

posted by bepsf on December 1st 2008 at 6:16pm
view bepsf's profile

Yet another product for people who don't REALLY like their books. Witty. Useless.

posted by SherryBinNH on December 1st 2008 at 7:29pm
view SherryBinNH's profile

Because that won't fall over the minute your cat decides it's jungle-gym play time in the home office...

posted by twitteringbirdie on December 1st 2008 at 8:46pm
view twitteringbirdie's profile

This is way too weird...

posted by visualingual on December 1st 2008 at 9:10pm
view visualingual's profile

I suspect that the angle of the shelf when expanded would put too much pressure on the spines of the books (over time) and cause them to weaken. It doesn't seem like a good idea for stoarge of books that you actually want to keep.

posted by KWorld on December 1st 2008 at 10:36pm
view KWorld's profile

This is super cute and innovative. It's the surrealist physical interpretation of "I've got more books than I know what to do with" and would look great in the right environment. I wish the bookcase had more color, as well as the overall styling for the photoshoot, but I guess white was the best way to showcase the concept.

Frankie says relax.

posted by teeze on December 1st 2008 at 10:52pm
view teeze's profile

What's wrong with that guy? Is he crying at the crazy bookshelf?

posted by K T G on December 2nd 2008 at 12:01am
view K T G's profile

I think it's kind of a cute gimmick, but seriously, Apartment Therapy tends to means to encourage people to live well within their spaces and keep only the stuff that really means something to them, and this bookshelf looks like some precariously expanding thing that reminds me of elastic pants -- something that lets you bloat until it's just not safe.

posted by Curtis on December 2nd 2008 at 12:22am
view Curtis's profile

Typo-alarm: Schoellhammer and Platzhalter ;)

posted by Bodenseepeter on December 2nd 2008 at 2:52am
view Bodenseepeter's profile

Nice image, Curtis.

posted by hrhprincessfiona on December 2nd 2008 at 8:23am
view hrhprincessfiona's profile

i think i know what the man is trying to demonstrate but to me, he looks like he's an angry candy cane maker. something went afoul in the candy cane striping process. the striper had a malfunction. and there was an explosion. this frustrates him because it's not the first time the machinery has broken down and he's deathly afraid of getting laid off during this tenuous time. especially so close to Christmas. In anger, he pulled his bookcase apart.

posted by *heather leaf* on December 2nd 2008 at 9:41am
view *heather leaf*'s profile

LOL heather. I thought he tried to decorate the bookshelf but it expanded with all the books and popped the garland.

I'm worried about it structurally. It looks topheavy and I can't imagine how it would be stable.

posted by whytephoenix on December 2nd 2008 at 10:11am
view whytephoenix's profile

Nothing useful to contribute here, just cracking up at heather's ad copy and the elastic pants... the first thing I thought was that the photos complement the silliness of the design perfectly: the girl seems to contemplate the difficult problem of having more nondescript objects covered in matching beige or white paper than her bookcase can accommodate, and then - voilĂ ! The smugly introduced, structurally unsound solution, which could also possibly damage your floors!

posted by wally3 on December 2nd 2008 at 10:36am
view wally3's profile

Yeah, White... my thoughts, also. Where does the expanding weight rest "evenly?" My mind doesn't calculate this stuff scientifically but at a glance it looks hideously unsteady (maybe just hideous).

Playful, perhaps, but way impractical and certainly far from my preferred aesthetic... and even if it was, Curtis' visual would've ruined it for me. *laughing*

posted by TheGoodBiGirl on December 2nd 2008 at 12:23pm
view TheGoodBiGirl's profile

For a similar floor footprint of the "maxed out" book case, you could have two book cases.

posted by Max on December 2nd 2008 at 12:45pm
view Max's profile

But Max, what would you do if you were living in the bottom of a boat and had "V" shaped walls??? Heh.

Yeah, I gotta agree that a second bookcase (or culling the collection) would solve the problem more stably. Clever idea, tho.

posted by rockypondgirl on December 2nd 2008 at 3:26pm
view rockypondgirl's profile

cool idea! but i think id feel edgy sitting in the same room with them.

posted by auddie on February 10th 2009 at 4:35pm
view auddie's profile

cool gag, yes... nice looking furniture, nope, sorry

posted by llamahead on May 1st 2009 at 4:46am
view llamahead's profile

Feeds

RSS icon New York

+ City Feeds