These desks by London architects Studio Octopi were designed to look like miniature basketball courts.

The steel frame of each desk emerges up through the plywood surface at one end to provide sockets, switches and a lamp, which the architects claim looks a bit like a basketball hoop.

The furniture was designed for the offices of London advertising agency 18 Feet & Rising.

We’ve also featured a couple of houses by Studio Octopi – see them here.

Here’s some more text from Studio Octopi:

Advertising agency 18 Feet & Rising appointed Studio Octopi to design desks and a board room table for their new office. The agency wanted the furniture to reflect their work ethos and hands-on creativity. Their love of basketball provided a design metaphor for the brief.

The tables were developed working closely with a scenery company, the component parts sized to ease future relocation.

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A desk seats two across a plywood surface. A black steel frame forms the foot and mast of each desk, referencing a basketball ‘hoop’. Data and power is distributed through the frame to desktop sockets and a lamp above acts as a beacon to call a meeting. In 2012 the agency will host a basketball game raising funds to upgrade a local schools court. The old court will then become worktops for their desks.

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The basketball tops symbolise the open playing surface of the agency: the crossing of boundaries and exchange of ideas.