I was brought onto this project by Odile Campagnon AIA who designed two bookcases to drop into the insets of bookcases that sat on either side of an existing fireplace/ mantel. The existing cases and shelves had been in place for many years and were in bad repair. We met with the homeowner and she suggested a material she might like was Baltic Birch. Baltic Birch is a highly engineered grade of plywood/ veneer where the side profiles are a distinct dark and light striping that highlights the stacked layers of thin wood. I was immediately excited by the potential of building with this material and the edge detail it would bring to the fairly simple boxes. The cases were designed to house a stereo system, turntable, amp, cd player and speakers as well as lots of albums. We worked the math out so that those components would fit properly into the bookcases and it would be possible to route the wiring necessary for the hook ups. An electric outlet was installed in the top right section and clean holes with grommets allowed the wires to route through the piece(s). Three coats of an oil base satin polyurethane finish were applied to bring out the color and contrast of the baltic birch as well as add protection. (Click on the right side of photos to see multiple views).