Step stools and ladders are a pain to drag everywhere, but here is one bookshelf where you can toss them aside. In an airy one-bedroom house in Yokohama, Japan, architect Shinsuke Fujii has created a minimalist bookshelf with maximalist function: Not only does the blond-wood shelving serve as an elegant design element, but because it's set at an angle, it also prevents books from toppling out during an earthquake, PLUS it taps into your superhero fantasies of scaling tall buildings.
Integrated into one wall of the house, the reinforced shelves extend all the way from the floor of the main level to the ceiling of the upper level. The slanted slope makes it super easy for anyone who’s ever scrambled over a jungle gym to reach a book, even if it’s on the highest ledge. You may want to start placing your favorite books up there, just so you can have an excuse to make the climb.
The rest of the house makes the most of its modest footprint with large windows along the front wall and a light well in the center of the upper level.
Now, if only there was a way to incorporate built-in ladders in every other room of the house. Maybe architects need to bring back pull-out kitchen steppers like these from House Beautiful in 1953, which did triple-duty as a ladder, cutting board (if you flipped it over), and a dining table/bench. Wearing shoes to step up, however, would not be recommended.
If you can’t build a slanted bookshelf into your space, try these other ideas to up your shelving game. Then you can have more than 30 books!
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