Brooklyn-based landscape architecture studio Anaj Collective has created two submerged basketball courts in New York City that can retain water during flash floods.
The first, called Water Square, is located in the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) South Jamaica Houses in Queens.
Seven years in the making, it is a collaboration between the grain collective, Mark Voters Studios, Public Housing Preservation, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, and NYCHA.
It is the first in a series of “cloud burst” sites designed to reduce the effects of flash flooding and improve resilience in NYCHA properties.
What was once a cracked, basketball court now doubles as a colorful “water square” that can hold 330,000 gallons of water, or half the volume of an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
The Water Square, which was inspired by similar projects in Copenhagen and Rotterdam, sits atop a $5 million drainage system that funnels stormwater from nearby catch basins into underground pipes and then bio-retention basins that filter the water before slowly releasing it into the ground.
Anaj Collective, a Brooklyn-based landscape architecture and urban planning practice that recently redesigned six NYCHA sports arenas destroyed during Hurricane Sandy, was brought in to run community engagement workshops with local residents and ultimately reimagine the basketball courts.
When the practice first spoke with residents, the skepticism was palpable, Grain Collective founding principal Runt Chia told Dezeen.
“People have been left out for years,” he said.
Environmental benefits were also difficult to convey in a community that has been divided for decades.
“To go into shelters where people have half their kitchens broken, and tell them ‘climate change is important,’ you’re going to get a big slap in the face,” he said.
Instead of religiousizing the merits of green infrastructure, Chaya’s team flipped the narrative and focused on the upgraded amenity that residents would get in return, namely two renovated basketball courts.
“Convenience becomes the engine through which you extrapolate [resiliency] ” he said.
Basketball courts are sunk 3 feet (1 m) into the ground. The sunken design allows the courts to safely collect water during flooding, while the edges double as stadium seating where residents can watch games and hang out.
Chia said the community could use the square to host various events such as movie nights or even a farmers market.
For the landscape architecture studio, the dual-purpose model where flexibility doubles as an urban amenity should be replicated throughout the city. And it doesn’t have to sink.
At the Jefferson Houses in East Harlem, where NYCHA’s second Cloudburst site has already broken ground, the Grain Collective has created a polygonal square and a playground for local residents, but instead of sinking the site, they’ve kept it at grade.
Viable concrete pavers and catch basins will capture stormwater and release it into underground storage tanks.
Ultimately, the architect hopes these “cloudburst” sites can become a blueprint for others in urban America — and help secure more investment closer to home.
“We always talk about the High Line, which is great, and there’s a lot of momentum there to get money,” he said. “These projects and these areas don’t get that kind of momentum and money.”
At a time when climate change is making flash floods more severe and more frequent, nature-based solutions such as water quads, sponge parks, and bioswales are becoming increasingly popular.
Other projects that incorporate flood resilience strategies include Wagner Park in Lower Manhattan and an urban park in Copenhagen’s South Harbor.
Photography by Ignacio Ausserton.
