A chess set that forms the New York City skyline

2017-06-20T13:53:00-04:00

First-name-only architects Chris and Ian of Skyline Chess have already rendered landmark buildings of London into chess pieces, and now they're trying to create a similar set of New York City, provided they receive enough funding via their Kickstarter.

Each building has been carefully chosen to represent a particular chess piece. As the architects explain:

"We gave careful consideration to selecting each piece on the board, to ensure that it both visually reflected the appropriate chess piece and also reflected the architectural status and scale of that building in the city.

King - One World Trade Tower
Queen - Empire State Building
Bishop - Chrysler Building
Knight - Flatiron Building
Rook - Guggenheim Museum
Pawn - Brownstone House"

Each piece has been weighted and given a felt bottom to make them enjoyable to hold and maneuver.

Frank Gehry's Tiffany Chess Set Is a Miniature Architectural Marvel

2012-05-02T15:42:00-04:00

... instead of drawing his inspiration from buildings in his portfolio, Gehry designed the various pieces of this chess set based on their role in the game. So the soft curves of the queen contrast the sharp angles of the king, while the pawns have all been equipped with cannons atop them. Unfortunately the set, which is made from fine bone-china, is only available from Tiffany & Co. as a special order for a staggering $25,000. A check-mate to the bank account for most of us.

Archinect - News

A chess set that forms the New York City skyline

Frank Gehry's Tiffany Chess Set Is a Miniature Architectural Marvel