Sound of Bookstores

In light of my thesis on the Co-op one of the major elements I will be incorporating is architecture and how it plays into the reasoning behind members valuing the store. As previously mentioned this is especially important in the fact that the Co-op will soon be moving.

With this in mind I have spent some time getting to know the bookstores here in Chicago. I spent one day last quarter going to see several different ones, namely the following: Powell's, and Ogara and Wilson (both on 57th Street), Printer's Row, Sandmeyers, and After-Words. I have also been to Women & Children First, McClurg Bookstore as well as worked at 57th Street Books and the Seminary Co-op. These stores are along with several I went to see in New York over the holidays.

In my pursuit of bookstores I have discovered that like Blesser discusses in his book Spaces Speak, Are you Listening? "we experience spaces not only by seeing but also by listening". This is especially prevalent in bookstores. Today I was in Myopic Books scanning the Fiction section as my ears were bombarded by all the sounds of the architecture around me. The classical music slightly muffled by the books and the loft surrounding me, the creaking of the thin wooden panels of the flooring above me as I heard each and every step as someone walked by above, muffled sounds of the L rolling into the red line stop just outside the brick back wall of the store and even more distant the sound of the intercom at the stop announcing the name of the stop and that the doors were, indeed, closing. This was along with the "Excuse me" of the woman passing me as the extreme narrowness of the aisles made it so I almost had to press myself into the bookshelves as she passed me. All this despite the fact that we had checked our bags at the door and neither one of us was very large. Every single one of these sounds was affected, or even created, by the architecture of the store. Had the aisles been wider the woman would have not had to excuse herself. Had the floor been made of concrete I would not have heard the steps of someone above me. Had I not been in a nook with a loft above me the open-ness of the space may have made the music echo more. Every single one of these elements contributed to the ambiance of the store, making for a relaxed space that resembled a library in its muffled sounds and surrounding books.

These are the kind of worries I have with the new Co-op after all not only the wonderful space will be completely different and much more contemporary than the current, but the sounds will also change completely.