By Studio Ossidiana

An installation for the 2021 Chicago Architecture Biennial: The Available City.

Part kitchen, part game, part stage, The Garden Table is a modular cast object designed to be touched, played upon, and cultivated.

It is designed as a permanent installation, made to withstand weather and use, and potentially, to grow over time. The modularity of the blocks creates spaces for sitting, games to be played, food to be shared, and urban wildlife to use.

The project is emblematic of the studio’s research and intentions, combining a focus on craft and materiality with the belief in the possibility of public space to allow new urban rituals, actions, and ways of being together to emerge. With The Garden Table, the ambition is to imagine and materialize a fragment of a collective city where domestic activities can become civic rituals, and the range of activities imaginable within the public realm can expand towards new forms of engagement with the city.

During the Biennial, the Table will be integrated into El Paseo’s ongoing programming and creation of communal space in Pilsen. Over time, daily usage and activity surrounding the permanent installation will be spontaneous—neighbors walking by who want to sit and look at the surrounding gardens, old friends playing a game of chess, or a group who wants to have a picnic. 

Games and Instructions

Contact us to reserve our game pieces for any of the games or bring your own. You can also get creative and find some sticks and stones.

Marble Solitaire

One Player
Pieces needed: Marbles

Tic Tac Toe

Two Player
Pieces: Contrasting pieces for each player like Sticks and Stones

Backgammon

Two Player
Pieces flat round stones of contrasting colors

Go Game

Two Player
Pieces flat round stones of contrasting colors

Chess

Two Player
Traditional Chess pieces (reserve our custom set)