Mogensen’s piece features a case-on-stand design and subtle interplay of varying dimensions.

My friends admired a bookcase by the Danish designer Børge Mogensen–and rightfully so: the stand-on-case design features a subtle interplay of details–between the case and top, between the varying thickness of stock, and between the shelf and case depth–that distinguish the piece. Unfortunately, the second floor of their one-and-a-half-story Craftsman bungalow couldn’t accommodate the case’s 63″ height. Clearly a shorter case was needed, but simply eliminating a couple of shelves while preserving the width of the original would create an ungainly design, an ill-proportioned stumpy case.

Widening the case while shortening created more pleasing proportions, but it introduced a structural problem: the original design features 1/2″ thick shelves, which contrast nicely with the 3/4″-thick case sides but can’t span much more than 20″ inches without the risk of sag. An additional divider shortened the shelf spans enough to avoid sag. With the case dimensions established, I turned my attention to the base. At least one additional leg was required to support the case, but after trying one additional leg, I decided two additional legs centered under the dividers looked better.

I shortened and widened the case to fit the space. The extra width requires an additional divider and legs.