This project is a few years old (won an Architecture award in 2007) but I had to share as it’s a great example of creative re-use.  Architecture firm Merkx+Girod architects were commissioned to convert a Dominican Church in Maastricht, Holland, into a bookstore.  See below for the result.

The combination of the 13th century architecture with the sleek modern bookshelves is beautiful.  The Guardian said it could be the most beautiful bookstore of all time.  

The high ceiling and book stacks between columns remind me of the library at Trinity College in Dublin (below), which you may confuse with the Jedi Archives seen in Star Wars Episode II.  I’m obviously a sucker for books in old buildings. 

via BoingBoing via DesignTopNews

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 10:28 pm and is filed under Architecture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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