Nicole Alvarez and Jeremy Leonard

Habitat ReStore of Wake County, Architecture for Humanity Raleigh, and AIA Triangle teamed to sponsor the 2012 ReSpace Competition. The challenge they posed was to "Design a small, unique, and transportable structure with reuse materials at the core, from concept to construction."

Our proposal is A Reading Refuge. A solid frame encompasses the contemplative space while defining two primary walls: the shelf wall and the pivot wall. The shelf wall is made of a series of fixed, perpendicular reclaimed doors that act as the solid spine of the space with nooks for reading, book storage, and filtered light. The pivot wall is a dynamic filter of variously-sized reclaimed doors allowing for people, light, and breezes to freely pass into the space. The design concept explores the similarity of a book and a door as thresholds into another place.

We received an Honorable Mention for our submission. To learn more about building with reused materials, contact us here.