What happens to those old school directories that are printed in bulk but are useless at the end of each year? MIT students seem to have found an answer to that. In the computer science library of the Stata Center (which was designed by architect Frank Gehry), there is a rocking chair made from reclaimed campus directories that can support a person’s weight up to 125 pounds. There’s also a little sidetable built from pieces of old hardcovers, a clock, an umbrella, a bookshelf, and a lighting installation, all made from pieces of unwanted old books. Each of these pieces was created by students as part of a course exploring how to use discarded materials as building blocks.

How did they decide which books could be chopped up as construction material? They used the ones that had been placed in at least two book sales but still hadn’t been picked up. That way, no librarians or booklovers were offended!

August 21st, 2006