ARCHITECTS AND FURNITURE

Library Administrator's Digest, Feb 2004 by Robinson, Charles W

It's my impression that architects are really artists trying to make a living. I've never met one that didn't want to do the interior design of his building, as well as design all the furniture, carpets and everything else in "his" building. A natural tendency for an artist, but it leads to all sorts of problems, not the least of which is expense.

Failing perhaps to get the assignment to design the furniture, the average architect would at least like to have a free hand in selecting the furniture manufacturer. And this results not only in blasting the budget but also often getting furniture that really doesn't work very well.

And then changing the design. As I have related several years ago in this column, I ran across the Thomas Moser exhibit at an ALA conference. I said that it really looked wonderful - and expensive. The Moser representative said offhandedly that, well, yes, their furniture was probably the most expensive of any on the exhibit floor.

As a followup to that meeting, a few weeks later I visited the Moser factory in Auburn, Maine. There in the last stages of manufacture were a number of library tables. The guide said they were destined for the new library at the University of Georgia. When I asked whether the tables were standard, out of their catalog, the guide said, "Well, almost. The architect wanted a few small changes."

Well, now the architect and the director of the new Muscogee County Library in Columbus, GA are both getting what they wanted - sort of. It's certainly not surprising that Robert A.M. Stern (of New York) wanted a "unified vision" for the library. (Architect-artist talk for "Let's keep our expensive designers busy, and make a few bucks on the furniture, too!") And, let's face it, these fancy New York firms can out-silver-tongue anyone from the hustings.

Claudya Muller, the library director, came all over practical, however, and wanted good price, durability and replacement availability. Oh, that stuff!

So the architect went to a manufacturer which agreed to build the architect's designs and presumably make more on demand from the library. And the cherry wood furniture being made by the manufacturer is more "durable" than the stuff the architects wanted.

Sounds like the architect won to me. Years ago, when I was building a library a year, I wouldn't have any wood furniture in the library at all, or shelving either, for that matter. It wasn't just a question of price: I never saw a wood table in public use that didn't eventually have scratches and gouges, and in many cases loose legs. By the 60s the office furniture people had come out with very attractive steel furniture with laminated tops nearly impervious to wear, and that's the kind of stuff we bought in quantity. And it stayed in their catalogs for years. The same went for chairs. Steel chairs lasted forever, and with durable upholstery were more comfortable than almost any wood chair. I anticipated lots of people in our libraries banging the furniture around, not the kind of quiet rare book rooms that architects see in their minds.

But Fm almost alone in this quirky feeling. All architects, all board members, and 85.76 percent of librarians just love wood furniture. And they'll have it.

But that doesn't go for me at home: I bought a beautifully designed and eminently comfortable cherry rocker from Moser for my wife's birthday. But since I was spending my own, rather than the taxpayers' money, I didn't feel a pang about the price: $1,155, including Maine sales tax. But not shipping. I sent my son-in-law and his pickup to get it from the factory.