The Petri Project

As a furniture design student, Sakura Adachi wanted to create a piece that bridged the gap between public and private—a space that created a sense of seclusion while still offering visibility. (Kind of the idea behind a blog, come to think of it.)

“I saw how people create their own space in cafes and trains, how they sit on the front edge of their seat or put their things on an empty chair,” Adachi says in the New York Times. Once she had the basic concept, she looked to the skies for inspiration. From the article:

The multitude of pigeons in London quickly became her muses. Ms. Adachi said she was struck by how the birds roosted in the alcoves of older buildings, just beneath the eaves of roofs. The pigeons went about their business in these nooks, seemingly oblivious to the pedestrians below, she observed.

Her goal was to make a piece of furniture that replicated the experience of dining al fresco on a busy sidewalk—a pastime, Ms. Adachi said, that makes someone feel simultaneously sheltered and engaged.

Called the “Cave,” the bookshelf-with-a-built-in-reading-nook that was once Adachi’s thesis project is now available to consumers.

There is something undeniably appealing about creating a private space in a public sphere (think treehouses, backyard camping, or building a fort in the living room). Many of us, however, aren’t quite ready to spend $7000 on a reading nook (and can’t squeeze into the child-sized version, which is still over $4000). But as Adachi points out, there are plenty of ways we humans create our own public/private roosts. As I write this, for example, I notice I’ve created my own little nest, bordered by my laptop, my bag, and my jacket, right in the middle of a bustling coffee shop.

Do you have pigeon-like tendencies of your own? Are you more productive when you’re “simultaneously sheltered and engaged”? Or more bird-brained?

Photo credit: Sakura Adachi