HELIKON BOOKSTORE
function: Bookstore
size: 260 sq.m.
year of realization: 2021 / 2022
location: city of Burgas
Art: Elena Georgieva
Photos: Atanas Zgurev
INTO THE COMFORT ZONE.
HELIKON BOOKSTORE, city of Burgas
/the art of interior design/
Just like any typeface aims to remain “invisible” in favor of the unobstructed comprehension of the text, the window shelves here don’t stress on themselves but remain rather functional, modest, simple. Thus they effortlessly support the new & bestselling titles, seducing the passers-by to sneak behind the “hard-covers” of this imposing building of the 1930s.
First, Ms Georgieva turns the page by demolishing a layer of plasterboard, hiding a beautiful brick wall with authentic arks. Then she turns the plot around a gracious staircase, uniting the ground (150 m2) & upper floors. The spiral of the steps is followed suit by a specially designed light installation. Both made of elegant black beams which look very much like the verticals in sanserif letters, preferred in printed headlines.
Each constructive island, greenery, show case, etc. looks as if it has always been there. Even the slightest particle being removed would open a gap. That’s how synchronized all details are with the main purpose of creating aesthetic & functional design.
The visible concrete & structural materials on the ceiling suggest brutalism, the bare bricks – deconstructivism, the serenity of these long light lines – minimalism; but the truth is we see not styles but principles here. For that is an honest & useful interior. So are the materials in it – sustainable: glass, wood, concrete, metal. “Good design is as little design as possible”, D. Rams.
For a brief moment in time, here at Helicon Bookstore, the customer is invited to drop out of mainstream and lured into the sitting areas within the window frames with a cozy book. Or without.
Design: Elena L Georgieva, STUDIO L DESIGN.
Content writer: Vera Ilieva
