Lutyens & Rubinstein Bookshop
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The bookshop has a flexible design in which shelves can be transformed into seats
Dennis Gilbert/VIEW (website) Download Original
Bookshop and office in Notting Hill designed with a focus on flexibility and bespoke fittings
The shop is arranged over two levels. A sliding bookshelf conceals the private office and meeting room in the basement, while allowing the space to be revealed as a venue for screenings or book signings.
Despite constraints of an existing staircase and mezzanine, the dark painted joinery and bespoke lighting responds to the clients’ romantic imagination. The bookshop has been designed for complete flexibility; joinery cubes on castors allow for the rearrangement of the counter, shelving modules have the ability to be transformed from seating alcoves to book display.
The shelving, constructed off-site by a specialist joinery contractor conforms to two datum levels. A low level shelf doubles up as seating or display space and a high level steel rail supports the modular globe lighting and hanging signs. The design encompasses bespoke joinery, metalwork, lighting and signage but the language extends much further to the intricate details of Lutyens & Rubinstein’s branded merchandise.
Data
- Begun: Jul 2009
- Completed: 2010
- Floor area: 104m2
- Sector: Retail
- Total cost: £55,600
- Procurement: Minor Work Building Contract
- Address: Lutyens & Rubinstein Bookshop, 21 Kensington Park Road, Notting Hill, London, W11 2EU, United Kingdom
Professional Team 
- Architect: de Rosee & Sa
- Project architects: Claire Sa, Max de Rosee
- Client: Lutyens & Rubinstein
- Main contractor: Clean Living
- Joinery : Bookworks
- Specialist metalwork: David Cash
- Structural engineer: Form Structural Design