The plaza on the south side of the Merck Rosetta Laboratories, facing Harrison Street, offers a Ping Pong Table as an amenity. The Ping Pong Plaza provides a place for workers, neighborhood residents, and visitors to have lunch or participate in activities within an inviting south facing plaza. The table is located in an "outdoor room" defined by a three-sided planter with tall bamboo, a scored concrete "rug," and a catenary light fixture suspended over the table. The Ping Pong Table can double as a lunch or meeting table with fixed wall seating along the planters. The table conforms to regulation Table Tennis dimensions.
The Ping Pong Table top is made of bronze with stainless steel net and line inlays. The four legs appear as asymmetrical dining table legs (since the game was originally played on a dining room table). Upon closer examination each leg defines a pair of profiles of noted scientists meeting face to face. These paired individuals represent a metaphorical ping pong match, bouncing ideas and concepts back and fourth, each in pursuit of validating a hypothesis. Perhaps in some future match between contemporary scientists, a distracting thought will occur during a volley, synapse will occur, and a "fifth leg" will begin to form.
