Pop-up design library opens in Union Market

Visitors to the Union Market area can now check out a temporary design library most days of the week. A group of public and private entities unveiled the pop-up installation at 1287 4th St. NE, a former warehouse space in the historic district, this past Wednesday. Dubbed “Resource,” the design library is open to the public for free, and it will run through Nov. 18.

The pop-up offers access to over 500 design books, magazines, and periodicals that might otherwise be expensive to buy or hard to find. Its organizers will also curate smaller displays of books by local designers, per a release. Special events—including panel talks, a drawing class, and ASL workshops—and a retail piece of the space featuring local items are planned.

Creative agency Form Function Studio designed the space, which is being co-sponsored by design firm Gensler, creative studio Composite Co., Gallaudet University, the Union Market District, and D.C. Public Library (DCPL). DCPL, Capitol Hill Books, STACK Magazines, Lars Müller, Island Press, and private donors furnished the reading materials, which “may be scanned for personal use.”

Alison Beshai, the principal of Form Function Studio, says the organizers plan to provide information about the pop-up in multiple languages, given that many of the companies operating on 4th Street NE are international wholesalers. “We want this space to be for everyone,” she says in a statement.

Resource is open on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and on Fridays through Sundays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The release notes that Union Market averages 15,000 visitors per weekend and has hosted more than 400 retail pop-ups and events.