The UdK Bookshop was created by students from the Berlin University of Arts to create an interdisciplinary platform for the works of students and professors. The brief dictated that the installation had to temporary, as the event would only last for three days.

A final design was selected from entries in a student competition, the winning design was a cardboard structure, chosen for its flexibility, stability, affordability, sense of impermanence and recyclability.

Six hundred 2,6 by 1,3 meter corrugated cardboard panels were cut, perforated, folded and glued together to form a massive block, which in turn was pulled apart like a giant accordian to achieve its final shape. Adaptable to any space, the entire shelving unit can be easily folded down to a tenth of its ultimate length for storage or transport purposes.

The cardboard itself, despite being light in nature, provides enough rigidity not only for the books, but also for the lowest shelf, which doubles as a bench for events, a place to display oversized objects, or simply to sit comfortably while leafing through a book.

At the end of the event, the shelving unit was auctioned off, ensuring funding for more publications as well as the continuance of the Bookshop in the coming year.

(Images by Reiner Hausleiter)