The Pagoda Shelf – Home Office Shelf

An extraordinary home requires an extraordinary home office. A space where form doesn’t just follow function but enhances that function with inspiration. Our Pagoda home office shelf brings that inspiration to your home office with its graceful lines.

A client required the creation of this distinctive shelf. He wanted a shelving unit with space incorporated into the design, some shelves backed with beautiful wood and others open. The details and design elements from existing pieces needed to be echoed in this new addition, and a very tight stairway negotiated in order to move the piece into the office.

With these challenges in mind, Brian set the design challenge of creating a streamlined and flowing shelf design.

The Challenges

First, he wanted to make the shelf “knockdown.” To do this, Brian made the whole unit act like a single dovetail. The angled front legs, which slip out of their dovetailed slots, lock the unit into position when assembled.  The shelves are supported by tight joinery and the angle of the slot. The solid back acts the same way.  When assembled, each shelf slides into position onto the back unit and the legs slide into their slots until they lock. This makes it practical and fun to knock down and reassemble. The Pagoda shelf can be constructed as one piece and shipped assembled as well.

A thickening section of the shelf itself as it approaches the legs supports the cantilevered sections of the shelves. This sculptural element and the way the legs are shaped paired beautifully with existing furniture, creating a unified look for the room.

Allowing blank space to become part of the design, Brian combined the necessary backing to emphasize the shape of a dovetail while creating the optical illusion of even length shelves. An influence from Asian design created his impressionistic Pagoda.

Pleasingly, the Asian influence solved his personal design challenge although putting the ideas into practice meant solving several engineering conundrums. Not so simple, but ultimately worth the effort.

Perfect as an anchoring piece for your office, the Pagoda shelf inspires each time you sight it across the room.