LAYERED
LIBRARY
A sculptural shelving system shaped by repetition, balance, and light.
Layered Library is a modular steel shelving system designed as both a functional storage piece and an architectural object. Its composition is created through the repetition of folded steel planes, forming a continuous rhythm of open compartments, solid surfaces, and shifting geometries.
Design Team: Mahdi Alibakhshian,
Structural Engineering:
Project Year: 2015-2016
Photographs: Deed Studio, Aparat
Status: Built, Completed
Form & Structure
The design is based on a simple system of folded and intersecting metal sheets. Alternating orientations create a series of compartments with different visual characters—some open and transparent, others more enclosed and sculptural.
The diagonal folds introduce both structural rigidity and visual movement, allowing a limited vocabulary of elements to generate a complex overall composition.
Rather than relying on a conventional frame, the structure emerges from the shelves themselves. Horizontal and vertical planes intersect and support one another, creating a lightweight appearance while maintaining the strength and rigidity of steel.
Integrated lighting transforms the library after dark. Concealed illumination within selected compartments emphasizes the depth of the structure, casting light across the folded surfaces and revealing new layers of shadow, reflection, and color.
Material & Fabrication
Layered Library is fabricated from cut, folded, and welded sheet steel. The thinness of the material allows the shelving to maintain crisp edges and a refined profile while the folds provide structural strength.
Each component is fabricated and assembled as part of an integrated system, with connections carefully controlled to preserve the continuity of the planes and the precision of the overall geometry.
Light as a Layer
Lighting is treated as part of the architecture of the object rather than an added accessory. Concealed LED illumination is integrated within selected sections of the library, washing the steel surfaces with indirect light.
The interaction between light, shadow, and folded metal gives the piece a different presence throughout the day—functional and restrained when unlit, atmospheric and sculptural when illuminated.
From Object to Architecture
Layered Library explores the boundary between furniture, sculpture, and architecture. It can function as a library, display system, spatial divider, or illuminated installation while maintaining a strong architectural identity.
Its character comes not from ornament, but from the relationship between material, repetition, structure, depth, and light.
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