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St. Pete Pier – ULI Americas Awards for Excellence Winner
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PopCourts! – ULI Americas Awards for Excellence Winner
May 11, 2022
Photo By Anezka Gocova
Situated in the middle of the “Soul City Corridor” along Chicago Avenue identified by the City’s Invest SouthWest initiative, PopCourts is part of a larger vision to bring development to Chicago’s underinvested, and primarily black and brown communities.
Photo By Shelby Kroeger
The colorful painting on the site, spills out into the street and sidewalk is meant to invite the community in. Community volunteers gathered on May 15th, 2021 to assist in painting of the basketball court. On the day of the event, passerby cars slowed down, honked in support and some even got out to help paint.
Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Developer: Westside Health Authority
Designer: Lamar Johnson Collaborative
Site Size: 0.15 Acres
Photo By Shelby Kroeger
Like many historically disinvested communities in our country, Austin lacks quality public open space. The plaza provides the much needed informal gathering place for Austin’s inhabitants.
POPCourts! is a 7,000sf community plaza in the Austin Neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side. The park serves residents along Chicago Avenue – one of Austin’s (and Chicago’s) primary commercial corridors.
POPCourts! was born out of the pandemic and civil unrest and developed in concert with Mayor Lightfoot’s INVEST South/West initiative. The goal was to provide a safe community space that residents could enjoy outdoors during the pandemic, while also creating a visible feature along Chicago Avenue, strengthening the corridor, and Austin Neighborhood as a whole.
Photo By Shelby Kroeger
A key concept behind PopCourts was the ability of the site to provide a space for local vendors to showcase and sell their work. During special events and weekends, the paved basketball courts can be set up with tables and tents for farmer’s markets and small businesses.
Designers transformed an empty city lot on the corner of Chicago and Lockwood into three zones, “Courts,” each serving a variety of community functions, with the programming meant to be flexible, allowing activities to “Pop” up and transform over time.
The basketball court doubles as a community plaza. The gravel drive hosts food trucks, farmers markets and other seasonal vendors, and the shaded lawn functions as a Food Court with casual seating. Artwork brings the project together, figuratively and literally. Local artists were engaged to paint murals on the adjacent building walls, depicting figures such as Malcom X, Harriet Tubman, and Maya Angelou. The site itself, and spilling out onto the sidewalk and into the street, is painted with a Pop Art theme.
Photo By Shelby Kroeger
Popcourts provides the perfect backdrop for all types of performers, dancers and even a runway for fashion designers. The continued
success of the plaza is ensured by its program manager, who is continuously looking for partnerships and opportunities to host events in the space.
A groundbreaking event for POPCourts! took place in October 2020, generating excitement and anticipation for the opening. During design and construction, the site sparked conversation and investigation by local groups of students interested in urban design, public art, and community planning.