Organizing space, organizing life
Of all the plans covering the walls of the Tin Sheds Gallery at the University of Sydney in 2017, it is the smallest I am drawn to: a tiny 1:100 plan of a table, hovering like an architectural cherub, in John Wardle Architects’ (JWA) Coincidences exhibition, a summary of three decades of the practice’s work. My interest is no coincidence, though: it extends an existing research focus on the table as one of the most adaptable spatial devices, able to operate functionally, socially and symbolically across scales, from the intimate to the civic – just like the schemes arrayed in Coincidences. Pablo Neruda called the table a “titanic quadruped,” and it is clear that John Wardle knows this too. Look at any of his projects and you can find both hardworking and highly aestheticized tables doing the job of organizing space, organizing life. There are the virtuoso pieces, such as the colonial hybrid at Captain Kelly’s Cottage (2016), or the integral place settings and timber surface at Fairhaven Beach House (2012); and then there are the robust tables
