Seven Stars Court

Tilden Houses is a NYCHA residential community in Brownsville, Brooklyn. I was invited by Hoopbus to design a new basketball court for the property, replacing a heavily worn and cracked surface with something that could feel specific to the neighborhood and the people who use it.

I worked closely with Jeremy John Kaplan, who was on site with the Hoopbus team as the project developed. Through workshops and conversations with residents, the team gathered stories, ideas, sketches, and cultural references from the community. I then translated that input into the visual direction and final basketball court design.

Developing the Concept

Two court directions were developed from the community input. One centered on the phrase Each One Teach One. The second, Seven Stars, was inspired by Brownsville’s history of producing world boxing champions. The community ultimately selected Seven Stars.

The concept began with seven stars representing those champions. As I developed the design, I kept the stars intentionally abstract so the idea could extend beyond individual athletes. They came to represent athletic excellence and the potential of everyone who calls this neighborhood home.

We wanted the final court to feel more expressive than a typical painted surface. The layered, gestural application, painted by the on-site team, connects back to an approach I’ve employed in my painting practice, where geometric forms contain loose washes of color that feel more fluid, organic, and unpredictable.

From Court to Community

The finished court was introduced through a community event at Tilden Houses, bringing residents, players, families, and the Hoopbus team together on the new surface.

What had started as stories, references, and ideas from the neighborhood was now something people could actually move through, play on, and make their own. Seeing the court full of activity completed the project in a way the renderings never could.

Back to Brownsville

This project also carried a personal connection. My family’s roots in Brownsville go back to 1954, when relatives came to New York from Puerto Rico and settled in the neighborhood. Members of my family lived at Tilden Houses, making this neighborhood part of my own family history long before I was asked to design a court there.

What began as a design commission became a connection between generations: creating something for a place that had once been home to my own family. That made Seven Stars especially meaningful to me.

Photography: Tameek Williams
Process images: Jeremy John Kaplan and Ben Loiz