New York's Sunken Basketball Courts Serve as Dual-Purpose Stormwater Retention Systems

Summary

Brooklyn-based landscape architecture studio Grain Collective has designed two innovative sunken basketball courts in New York City that serve dual purposes: functioning as recreational sports facilities while also acting as stormwater retention systems during flash floods. The first project, called Water Square, is located at NYCHA South Jamaica Houses in Queens and took seven years to develop in collaboration with Marc Wouters Studios. These courts represent a creative approach to urban infrastructure that addresses both community recreational needs and climate change adaptation through multifunctional public spaces.