skyline chess set brings london to world's most popular game

skyline chess set brings london to the world’s most popular game
image courtesy skyline chess

a match for those passionate about both chess and architecture, the skyline chess set recreates the london cityscape over the checkered black and white plane of the beloved, ever-popular board game. designers ian flood and chris prosser have translated traditional set pieces into prominent london landmarks, drawing from both the symbolic value of the built form as well as their role on the chess board. the result is a monochromatic set of 3D printed battling buildings– pawns become the quintessential london abode, a humble terraced house; the bishops become the gherkin (50 st. mary axe); knights are the all-seeing london eye; the rooks manifest as the iconic big ben; the queen is appropriately the most dominant building on the london skyline, renzo piano’s shard ; finally, the might and presence of the king take on the form of canary wharf. while the skyline chess set is still in prototype phase, a kickstarter campaign has been launched to bring the game to the market and offers a full set starting at £75 and a cast metal version starting at £350. the long-term vision is to market iterations of the set in weighted acrylic and cast metal as well as create versions of game as other major cities:

we don’t want to stop at london…..we have visions of global domination! why not play your home city against that of your friends or family; london vs. paris, new york vs. rome, dubai vs. shanghai.

the full set would come complete with a laser-cut box for the scaled-down buildings-turned-gamepieces

pawns as the humble terrace house

rooks become the big ben

bishops are miniaturized versions of the gherkin

knights become the london eye

(left): the queen is renzo piano’s shard
(right): the king is manifested as canary wharf

a drawings articulates the scale shift and building information for each piece