AA Bookshop
A bookshop fitted into the Architectural Association’s Grade I listed townhouse using digitally fabricated pieces, each made to the irregular geometry of its room.
The Architectural Association is the UK's oldest independent school of architecture, and its Bedford Square home is a Grade I listed townhouse. The design had to function as a working bookshop, reflect the AA’s culture of design experimentation and leave the Georgian interior untouched.
Floor levels shift from room to room, and two centuries of settlement had moved the walls with them. Nex began with a detailed laser scan of the interior and designed every piece of furniture from that survey. Each of the 33 pieces is bespoke, digitally fabricated as a mass-customised variation on a common system, and fitted to its exact position with a tolerance of 3mm. The period features remain untouched, and the furniture adapts to the room as it is.
Bespoke lighting was designed alongside the furniture, shaped by how the shop is used through the school's day. Digital fabrication also kept the fit-out within a limited budget, making each piece to measure without the cost that was once associated with made-to-measure.
