Outside of the American Midwest, most people would not expect to find exceptional library design in Kansas City, Missouri. If they went to downtown Kansas City, however, those people might be surprised.
Back in 2003 and 2004, the Kansas City Public Library Board of Trustees decided to transform the Library District Parking Garage into a giant Community Bookshelf. The “shelf” contains 42 different titles suggested by local book lovers from poetry by Langston Hughes to works by Plato. Each of the book spines is around 25 feet tall and 9 feet wide.
I don’t normally consider parking garages to be beautiful, but with the creation of this Community Bookshelf, the folks in Kansas City have made something extraordinary. You can see a few images of it below.




I suppose it would be difficult to convince the library board in my city to do something similar, but I would love to see…
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