Foundation Bookshelf, Iconic House Le Cœur du Ferret, Cap Ferret

A commission for Le Cœur du Ferret, one of the houses in the Iconic House collection of private maisons hôtelières, set among the pines of Cap Ferret. The house was designed by Bordeaux architect Frédéric Thet, with interiors by JAUNE Architecture and an art programme curated by Joséphine Fossey, conceived as a dialogue between Cap Ferret and Mexican modernism with Luis Barragán as a reference point.

The brief called for shelving that stood free between two rooms rather than against a wall. That removed the back panel, and with it the element that normally squares a bookcase, so the structure had to resolve on both faces and hold itself rigid internally. We took the zigzag leg that carries our benches and consoles and repeated it vertically. Stacked and mirrored, the same angle that braces a bench becomes the entire structure of the shelf. The geometry is not applied. It is what keeps the unit square with nothing behind it, and it leaves the piece open from either side, working as a divider, as a library in the middle of a room, or conventionally against a wall. Built in birch plywood to dimensions set by the space.

Studio Goons is listed among the design and art contributors to the house alongside Rrrres Studio, Tezontle Studio, Redfield & Dattner, Atelier Laissez Passer and Salva Lopez.