Ultra-slender legs hold up a vast expanse of metal and glass to form the TT_01 table, designed by Poesenvanhiel Architects as an architectural experiment.

The TT_01 table has what Poesenvanhiel Architects describes as "a symbiotic relationship between rigid and elegant, solid and fragile."

It has a large square glass tabletop laid on a grid of thick crisscrossing steel. Holding up these heavy elements, there are only four thin metal legs, supported by tension cables that stretch to points on the grid.

Steel discs hold the tension cables in place on the legs, and become an intermediary between the robustness of the steel top and the ethereality of the slender legs.

Poesenvanhiel Architects said it wanted the TT_01 table to have a balanced harmony between robust, rigid elements and those that are gentle and fragile.

The studio also thought of the table as an architectural project, with a structure that could be transferred to a larger scale and work as a covered square.

"We cherish the aesthetic that results from how something is built rather than wrapping something up aesthetically," said the studio. "Because we are architects we see our furniture designs as structural concepts that can be applied at different scales."

"The furniture itself becomes a 1:1 model and at the same time it also serves as a 1:100 research model for an architectural project," the team added.

Poesenvanhiel is a young collaborative architecture and design firm based in Brussels.

Its TT_01 Table was shortlisted for the 2021 Dezeen Awards in the furniture design category.

The category was won by Cecile Manz' Plint table, a flatpack piece held together by leather loops, while other finalists included Yiannis Ghikas' coloured blown-glass Soda coffee tables.

The photography is by Merel Hart.