POPcourts!

Pop up park in Austin, Chicago

ULI 2022 Americas Award for Excellence - Winner

AIA Film Competition 2021 - Grand Prize

AIA Chicago Roberta Feldman Architecture for Social Justice 2022 - Honorable Mention

Architizer A+ Architecture & Community - 2022 Finalist

Corenet Chicago ‘22 Real Awards - Diversity and Inclusion Award

WLA Professional Award 2022 Finalist - Built Small

Chicago Commercial Real Estate Awards 2022 - Community Impact Project of the Year.

ASLA Central States 2021 - Merit Award

APA Illinois 2021 - Advancing Diversity and Social Change

As part of the All-Reimagining-Chicago (ARC) Initiative, this vacant lot was converted into a pop-art themed park to bring much needed outdoor space to the community of Austin. Vibrant colors were used in a radial geometry to setup three distinct courts for community activity. A basketball court against a bring mural by local artist featuring prominent black Americans, a food court in the form of a gravel drive against the building to the south, and a shaded lawn on the corner of Chicago and d Lockwood.

Community members came out for paint day and applied a design of various sized dots within the radial grid, spilling out into the intersection and across the street to grab the attention and energy of those passing by and bring them in to further activate the site.

SSA 72 now manages and regularly hosts community events at POPcourts! The project has been met with such acclaim that the city of Chicago is rolling out the same process to various underserved comminutes in Chicago as part of it’s Invest SouthWest initiative.

POPCourts! - 2021 - Lamar Johnson Collaborative