I am an architect and currently designing an urban chess space in central London. I am wondering what qualities would be best for such a space and I think you lot would have some interesting qualities. It will be both interior space and public / outdoor space.
Do you like to play in public?
Is a quiet or lively ambiance best?
Are you aware of your surroundings as you play, or is your focus solely on the table?
Love to know these questions and any other suggestions you may have.
Thanks in advance
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Originally posted by archessitecturetheres nothing better than playing a game of chess outside in the park with a bunch of people out walking about, playing with their kids and pretty much just doing what people do.
I am an architect and currently designing an urban chess space in central London. I am wondering what qualities would be best for such a space and I think you lot would have some interesting qualities. It will be both interior space and public / outdoor space.
Do you like to play in public?
Is a quiet or lively ambiance best?
Are you aware of y ...[text shortened]... table?
Love to know these questions and any other suggestions you may have.
Thanks in advance
i've played in public parks and in a pedestrian street both where good but i personally preferred the park...a bunch of people standing around watching the game...the atmosphere was pretty good.
i would like to see two huge knights one black the other white, possibly 5 meters in height gazing down at the initiate as he approaches, made of pure marble, gleaming, guarding a large roman arched portico entrance which naturally would lead itself into a huge marble square of 64 chequered tiles, surrounded by colonnades supported on the four corners by giant rooks, in between the colonnades would be statues, portraits of the great masters each embodying the spirit which they exhibited and some virtue or other, for example Stientz methodology, Botvinic science and research, tal affability and creativity, petrosian foresight and planning, Casablanca naturalness, Fischer determination etc etc. leading up from this square would be the entrance to the interior, two large smoke glass doors ... let me know if you need some ideas for the interior - regards Robbie
Originally posted by archessitectureNow this is very interesting. Keep us informed please because I'd love to use it if it ever gets built. I'll give you my preliminary thoughts and try to address you questions in order.
I am an architect and currently designing an urban chess space in central London. I am wondering what qualities would be best for such a space and I think you lot would have some interesting qualities. It will be both interior space and public / outdoor space.
Do you like to play in public?
Is a quiet or lively ambiance best?
Are you aware of y ...[text shortened]... table?
Love to know these questions and any other suggestions you may have.
Thanks in advance
I don't play in public, but would if we had a gimmick like this.
Quiet is good, but you want to avoid anything that isolates the players. I suppose you need to consider the acoustics.
You need to provide a place where we can concentrate on the table. Outdoors, things like the orientation of the boards is important. They need to be aligned so that in the summer when they're most used neither player has the sun in his eyes.
Other than that, outdoors you need to use materials that weather well. Would be nice to have a couple of seats for each table that will allow spectating with being in the players' ways. Not under trees because of the bits that would fall down.
Indoors, I see an amphitheatre (with some softness to deaden echoes) around a massive sized board. Interspersed amoung the seating will be boards.
Actually, give me your details. I'll kill you, take your place and build the damn thing myself 🙂
How about a couple of tables in the middle of pits with 3 or 4 terraced rings forming the walls of the pit. The idea is to have "big" games played at these tables and observers can stand on the elevated steps and have a good view of the game, kind of like Center Court at Wimbledon.
Observers tend to crowd the tables at matches but only a few can see very well because of limited space and short people can't see at all unless they muscle their way in.
This assumes you are designing the space to accommodate observers and not just players.
In a similar vein, you could wire these spaces for cameras or projection, again, so that others can watch the important matches or for instruction. Will there be chess classes taught at this place?
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Originally posted by robbie carrobiemeanwhile back on earth....😉
i would like to see two huge knights one black the other white, possibly 5 meters in height gazing down at the initiate as he approaches, made of pure marble, gleaming, guarding a large roman arched portico entrance which naturally would lead itself into a huge marble square of 64 chequered tiles, surrounded by colonnades supported on the four corne ...[text shortened]... large smoke glass doors ... let me know if you need some ideas for the interior - regards Robbie
Thanks a lot everyone, I appreciate the responses.
As regards the teaching idea, I am sure that if this is something that people tend to want it could easily be incorporated. Is there generally much demand for such things?
If so, what format might this take, do people tend to learn through watching others play, or is it more of a holistic / theoretical attitude to game play?
And if I was to ask what ethereal qualities you would associate with chess what would they be?
I realise its an abstracted question but I am intrigued to know your response, whatever it may be.
If you were to associate the place with other functions, what would you like to see?
And lastly what are people's thoughts on the evolution of chess and its complex rule/strategy base as regards newer games which have developed over a shorter time span. Would you say there are there any modern day comparisons?
Originally posted by archessitecturedo you not want to see my imaginative plans for the interior, no, cant think why?
Thanks a lot everyone, I appreciate the responses.
As regards the teaching idea, I am sure that if this is something that people tend to want it could easily be incorporated. Is there generally much demand for such things?
If so, what format might this take, do people tend to learn through watching others play, or is it more of a holistic / theor ...[text shortened]... e developed over a shorter time span. Would you say there are there any modern day comparisons?
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you should start a thread about this in the general forum...you will get people starting fights with each other and more jokes about what you're trying to do but for the most part more people post in the general forum and they're just regular people who you appreciate some sort of chess board/statue if they lived in london.
Originally posted by archessitectureMost cities have chess clubs and some of them sponsor chess instruction. Some schools have chess clubs and a spare classroom is used. We do not know if providing space for chess instruction is one of your client's requirements. If it is, I suppose you should set aside some space with a projection screen or something more creative.
Thanks a lot everyone, I appreciate the responses.
As regards the teaching idea, I am sure that if this is something that people tend to want it could easily be incorporated. Is there generally much demand for such things?
If so, what format might this take, do people tend to learn through watching others play, or is it more of a holistic / theor ...[text shortened]... e developed over a shorter time span. Would you say there are there any modern day comparisons?
Some learn by reading, others by studying instructive games, others by playing a lot and some through classroom instruction.
Other functions? I think a shabby club is the best paradigm. Low dues, semi-competent self-management, petty politics, that sort of thing. For your annual dues, you have a place to go and spend time with like-minded people, play a game, compete in the club championship, etc.
As for the history of chess and its place in society, read "The Immortal Game" ("Or, How 32 Carved Pieces on a Board Illuminated Our Understanding of War, Science, and the Human Brain"😉 by David Shenk. That will answer your questions.