D&Q publisher Chris Oliveros, along with Art Spiegelman, lobbied bookstores to include a section for graphic novels, which would be subdivided by subject.
Like most new museums, the Ara Pacis is stuffed with unnecessary add-ons: an overly formal lobby, a bookstore and a 150-seat theater that seems a wrongheaded fillip in a museum with a single work of art.
The last fan in line goes away, and there is no one left in the auditorium lobby but the bookstore staff, boxing his unsold books.
Incidentally, and alas, although the lobby and the bookstore are permanent installations, the gallery will be stripped of its tiles and revert in 2002 to plain old Dia space.
With a level of detail unusual for such a brief, Mr. Broad specified, according to those familiar with his plans, that a 5,000-square-foot 5,000-square-foot 5,000-square-foote and part of the archives shoulobby located on the first floor; archives, office space and a conference room on the second; and the galleries on the third and final floor, so that they could be illuminated with skylights.
Even more idiosyncratic is the presence of a lockerlike Art Moderne wardrobe casually attached to the wall in the passage between the bookstore and the lobby.
Nearby is Printed Matter, another excellent art bookstore, just off the lobby of the gallery building at 535 West 22nd, and known for its unrivaled selection of artist-designed books.
It was a time for admiring the improvements and complimenting the architects, KieranTimberlake Associates, on the plush seats, roomy ground-floor bathrooms and lobby amenities reminiscent of a suburban bookstore.
The renovation would expand the lobby and include a cabaret, cafe and bookstore, among other amenities, allowing the Alley to program performances and related events like classes and discussion groups and remain open from morning until after midnight.
In the past decade, online outlets have challenged physical bookstores, prompting French publishers to lobby for a change in the law to stop what they call Amazon's "dumping" and "unfair competition".
Snagging visitors from the north, an aggrandized lobby for Alice Tully Hall will house a performing-arts bookstore to rival the nearby Tower Records and Barnes & Noble.
