Commercial, Interior Design, Third Places

Ada’s: A Burst Of Light and a Custom Mobile

Ada’s Technical Books & Café is a project that will always be near and dear to us. And, one of our favorite details (both to design and to make) is the custom mobile of book pages. This is the story of how it came to be.

B&V Commercial Team

April 15, 2014

Ada’s Technical Books and Cafe, a project very near and dear to us at Board & Vellum, will have been open for almost six months at its new location on 15th. It’s amazing to walk by every day (our office is less than a block away) to see how much love Ada’s is getting from people in the community. One of the most fun details to have designed and worked on is the custom mobile that hangs above the café space.

Handmade mobile of book pages. – Ada’s Technical Books & Café – Retail Design – Board & Vellum — **Thoughtful Details**

Intimate details, such as a custom mobile created from the pages of old books, contribute to the shop’s unique character and story. *Ada’s Technical Books & Café | Photo by Cindy Apple.*

When we set out to work on the interior elements of this revitalized house, we couldn't ignore the amount of light that filled the space once the walls were built and the skylights and windows were installed. While, most coffee shops and libraries have a reputation of being cozy, but dark — Ada’s is a burst of light in both worlds.

**original rendering**

In this early rendering, we knew we wanted something up high in the cafe space but weren't quite sure yet what that should be

We loved the idea of walls lined floor-to-ceiling with wood bookcases stacked with technical books and scientific artifacts. Owners, Danielle and David Hulton, had no problem filling the custom-made shelves with books, but we all agreed that Ada’s new space was the perfect setting to juxtapose the old with the new, scientific methods with innovative ideas and the heavy with the light.

To achieve this effect and to help visually lower the ceiling in the cafe, our team designed a custom mobile and hung plexiglass sandwiches off of the mobile arms. The different opacities of plexiglass were made to look like an extension of the library – floating like clouds of information that make you feel smarter just sitting beneath them. It was a great low-cost and high-impact feature that really helps activate the entire space.

**work party**

Here Jesslyn from Board & Vellum and Danielle Hulton work on assembling the mobile before opening

Here, the various pieces of the plexiglass sandwiches await assembly.

**teamwork**

Ryan and Jesslyn work at piecing together the mobile

**Opening Day**

Here at opening day, crowds can be seen mingling under the mobile

Our team had a great time assembling the mobiles in the newly finished space, one night before the soft-opening. Danielle and David had more than a few books selected from their personal collection and we made our way through the stacks, preserving pages that visually stood out and represented the, “it’s cool to geek out” vibe that Ada’s makes you feel the moment you step through its doors. You’ll even notice that some of the drawings up in the mobile are drawings from the actual architectural set.

It is details like this that really helped make this such a special project for us and the neighborhood. Next time you pop in, take a look up and see just how special this place really is.