The Underpass is about people. It is about neighborhood. It is a destination.

The Underpass is a multi-use, multi-cultural institution that reflects the history, diversity and liveliness of Park Slope, Gowanus, Sunset Park and greater Brooklyn.

It consists of basketball courts and event & museum spaces, as well as practical amenities and a safe street infrastructure for all users. It‘s about fostering neighborhood recreation, public health, local youth talent, history, education and social capital, all the while supporting and being supported by an important neighborhood transit hub.

Recreation and "Showtime" Destination

New York City has a storied basketball history, and is famous for outdoor "streetball" courts as breeding grounds for future stars. Brooklyn in particular has seen many locals (Lenny Wilkens, Bernard King, Mark Jackson, Chris Mullin, and Stephon Marbury) go on to All Star careers in the NBA. While Manhattan has famous "showtime" courts such as Rucker Park and “The Cage” at West 4th Street, there's currently no equivalent in Brooklyn. The Underpass could become a streetball destination, for casual pickup games as well as high-profile tournaments.

In addition, the Underpass satisfies a local need for public basketball courts, as there are surprisingly few within the surrounding neighborhoods. It provides accessible, walkable, and bikeable recreation, and creates a new connection between existing recreation destinations such as Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway.

Celebrating the Architecture of Transit

The Underpass celebrates and builds upon the graceful architecture of the bridge structure, creating a series of engaging spaces, both indoors and out, new and existing. An external platform stretches across the beltline of the bridge, providing a view of the showtime basketball court below. Atop the train station, a roof deck serves as an annex to the nearby New York Transit Museum, that is equal parts historical record, hands-on education space (with views of the trains passing below), and flexible space for events & performances (with beautiful city views). At the street level, lighting brightens the experience, and new uses in the storefronts, such as bike rentals and newsstands, support recreation and practical everyday use.

People-friendly Streets

The Underpass has a surrounding street infrastructure that is equally friendly and accessible to everyone: young, old, handicapped, able-bodied, walkers, bicyclists, transit riders, and drivers. It is an infrastructure that offers safe choices: pedestrian friendly sidewalks with shortened and defined crosswalks; striped bike lanes on 4th Avenue and buffered bike lanes on 9th Street; and finally, reduced car travel lanes on 4th & 9th, to allow for more pedestrian & sidewalk amenities, such as landscape greening & beautification and the basketball courts themselves.

Whether you're making a transit connection, biking to Prospect Park, passing through by car, or simply out for a walk, the surrounding streets will contribute to an improved quality of life.

Conclusion

The Underpass seeks to be a change agent, bringing us back to a time when community was paramount, streets were living room of the neighborhood, and vehicular traffic was merely a part of a greater whole.