Delight.Chess, that most ancient and cerebral of games, has proved an unlikely catalyst for a new urban park in that most modern and uncerebral of places, California. Designed by Rios Clementi Hale Studios and inspired by the history, lore, evolutions and rituals of chess and its pieces, the Chess Park transforms an unremarkable downtown pedestrian precinct pedestrian precinct Noun Brit an area of a town for pedestrians only, esp. an area of shops pedestrian precinct n → zona reservada para peatones in the city of Glendale into a place of social (and cerebral) interaction. The plan of the park is based on the strategic movements made in chess, with 16 inlaid in·laid v. Past tense and past participle of inlay. adj. 1. Set into a surface in a decorative pattern: a mahogany dresser with an inlaid teak design. 2. chess tables provided for al fresco fresco (frĕs`kō) [Ital.,=fresh], in its pure form the art of painting upon damp, fresh, lime plaster. In Renaissance Italy it was called buon fresco to distinguish it from fresco secco, games in the balmy Californian climate (Glendale Chess Club was part of the client group). Five giant light towers animate and mark the length of the park, their abstract profiles based on the form of chess pieces (king, queen, rook rook, term used for a common Eurasian bird (genus Corvus) of the family Corvidae (Crow family), smaller than the American crow. The jackdaw is a European species of the genus. Rooks nest in large colonies, whence the term rookery. , knight and pawn), but tempered by other influences such as the delicate paper lanterns Paper Lanterns was a pop punk/power pop band from Vancouver, Canada. The band existed, though with numerous line-up changes, between October 2002 and April 2006. Paper Lanterns of Isamu Noguchi and Brancusi's powerful sculptures. Each 28ft high tower has a hollow base that can be used for storage, signage or seating and each is topped with synthetic canvas that gently palpitates with light, bathing the park in a warm glow after dark. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Different pieces demarcate de·mar·cate tr.v. de·mar·cat·ed, de·mar·cat·ing, de·mar·cates 1. To set the boundaries of; delimit. 2. To separate clearly as if by boundaries; distinguish: demarcate categories. different functions. The King Tower, for instance, acts as a giant story-telling throne for performances and book readings, while the Rook Tower provides storage and technical support for events. The Queen Tower presides over the chessboard zone, with its ranks of concrete tables inlaid with black and white tiles, and also acts as sentinel and symbol for the Glendale Chess Club. Concrete benches provide seating for local workers to enjoy lunches and coffee breaks, while cypress trees form a buffer to the park precinct A constable's or police district. A small geographical unit of government. An election district created for convenient localization of polling places. A county or municipal subdivision for casting and counting votes in elections. PRECINCT. . Lush, low maintenance shrubbery and white-flowering perennials add flashes of texture and greenery, softening the manmade elements. Both imaginative and inviting, this thoughtful transformation adds to the social and intellectual life of the city. C.S. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] |
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