Williams College Bookstore Brand Presentation

PROJECT: Williams College Bookstore Brand Presentation
CLIENT: Cambridge 7 Architects
LOCATION: Williamstown, MA


Williams College Presents its Authentic Brand in New Bookstore

Cambridge 7 Architects was tasked with not only creating a bookstore for the campus, but also designing a space that could be utilized for so much more; coffee shop, event area, and indoor and outdoor leisure spaces for the community. And it had to both tell the story of this LEED-Platinum building and present the Authentic Brand of Williams College.

PROJECT SERVICES


  • Engineering
  • Specification
  • LEED Requirements Management
  • Fabrication
  • Graphic Production
  • Installation


Project Overview

Williams College opened this 10,000 square feet bookstore, café, and event space in August 2017. Located in the heart of Williamstown, the Bookstore is the place to buy course books and general interest titles, attend readings, study or relax with friends over coffee, and browse a wide selection of official Williams apparel and merchandise.

Cambridge 7’s Stefanie Greenfield was the principal lead for the project. She and her team had a holistic vision of the architecture and interiors that would support the retail space within it in a meaningful way. The bookstore was never meant to be an empty space, a true community ‘living room’ that is so much more than just a bookstore.

In order welcome guests to the space and to link three floors with different uses, C7 asked Image 4 to develop a graphic treatment that would line the walls from the event center level to the retail book level.

Using images of climbers, Image 4 designed a whimsical and relevant graphics treatment. Our engineers specified a LEED-supportive substrate conjoined with recycled aluminum mounting posts. Due to the rough concrete wall surface, our engineers overcame some challenges in the project design, including the fitting and alignment of the stand-off panels to the incline of the stair case.

Our graphics shop printed and aligned the panels, color matching them to other images within the building including LEED-supportive fiber-based wallcovering from Monadnock Paper.

The facility has indeed become a community “hangout” and raises Williams’ Brand Equity within the community.

https://www.architectmagazine.com/project-gallery/williams-college-bookstore


 

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