CHANGING HANDS BOOK STORE

PHOENIX, ARIZONA
2014 

Design for the 7,000-square-foot Changing Hands Bookstore and First Draft Bar in uptown Phoenix seeks to provide a simple, visually quiet backdrop for the books and products that fill the space of this unique retail-bar hybrid. The large reclaimed redwood bar and point-of-sale are islands in a sea of books. Sitting nooks allow readers to ‘sit in the stacks’ throughout the space. A vintage red-brick fireplace, once surrounded by dining tables in the building’s former life as Beefeater’s Restaurant becomes the backdrop for weekly story-time readings. Kaiserworks designed and fabricated many custom pieces for this project. Mag Bar, a custom magazine rack on one side and sitting bar the other, provides a perch for reading and people-watching between the bar and point-of-sale. Large Noodle Benches in the children’s area can be configured into a circle to contain rambunctious toddlers or arranged to provide wavy benches between the stacks. Solar Chime is a sculpture that refracts colored light into the space. A laser-cut glass-rack folds down from a light trough in the soffit above First Draft Bar, creating a bar-sized chandelier of top-lit wine glasses.

Designer: Kaiserworks
Architect of Record: John Douglas Architects