Pittsburgh Asked for Ideas, We Gave Them Books!

The City of Pittsburgh recently facilitated an ideas competition for a series of banners that will camouflage an eyesore downtown parking garage.  Designing Local submitted our proposal, ‘Open Stacks’, with the goal of highlighting the global impact of the City’s industrial heritage.

After some brainstorming and research, we were most inspired by the amazing history of the Carnegie Library system.   Following the sale of Carnegie Steel Company to J.P. Morgan and US Steel in 1901, Andrew Carnegie established a trust to fund over 2,500 public libraries throughout the world.  This unparalleled act of philanthropy demonstrates the worldwide influence of Pittsburgh’s industrial past.

These Carnegie libraries popularized the ‘open stack’ organizational system in which library patrons could freely browse and select books of their choosing.  This revolutionized the ability for individual citizens to self-educate, enabling opportunities for personal and economic growth.

Designing Local created a vibrant visual translation of the global influence of the Carnegie library system.  A series of abstracted ‘open stacks’ creates a bold and compelling visual impression. Each ‘book’ represents a single funded library, and each ‘book’ color represents a different country in which the country is located.

We appreciate the City of Pittsburgh’s vision and foresight to create such a clever camouflage system for the garage and to engage the creative community through the process.