BLUE COURT BY FOUND PROJECTS & ATELIER NOIRS: THE FUTURISTIC BASKETBALL COURT REDEFINING PUBLIC SPACE IN CHINA

The Blue Court project, designed by Found Projects and Atelier Noirs, transforms a simple basketball court into a contemporary public space located in a coastal park in Xiangshan, near Ningbo, China.

Completed in 2024, the 927 square-meter project combines lightweight architecture, urban design, and community oriented spaces. Its exposed steel structure, reinforced with tension cables and semi-transparent metal mesh, creates a striking visual identity while responding to the coastal climate and strong sea winds.

The diagonal cables generate a powerful graphic vibration, almost like a drawing suspended in the air. Their presence gives the structure a dynamic visual tension, transforming the basketball court into an architectural landmark that feels both lightweight and expressive. Rather than functioning as decorative elements, these cables play a crucial structural role by stabilizing the steel frame against strong coastal winds and the demanding marine environment.
This duality between aesthetics and performance is what makes the project particularly compelling. The visual identity of Blue Court emerges directly from its engineering logic: every structural component contributes simultaneously to the architectural expression and the physical stability of the space.

By avoiding unnecessary formal gestures, the project achieves a rare sense of honesty where construction, function, and design become inseparable.
The result is an architecture that appears almost temporary or improvised at first glance, yet reveals a highly controlled structural system capable of responding efficiently to climatic constraints while creating a striking spatial experience.

The vibrant blue surface, the project’s signature feature, visually connects the court to the surrounding sea and sky, turning it into a landmark visible from afar. More than just a sports facility, Blue Court functions as a modern civic space designed for everyday social interaction. Integrated seating, shaded areas, and open circulation encourage multiple uses, including sports, relaxation, social gatherings, and landscape observation.

The architecture draws inspiration from temporary infrastructures, scaffolding systems, and lightweight tensile structures, resulting in a minimalist yet durable design. This approach allows the project to create a strong social impact at a modest scale, especially in a rural context affected by youth migration toward major cities.

With Blue Court, Found Projects and Atelier Noirs demonstrate how contemporary sports architecture can become a social and cultural catalyst while enhancing the surrounding landscape.

project: blue court
architecture: Found Projects + Atelier Noirs
team: miaojie ted zhang, veronica smith (found projects), xinhao li, tianyu kan, weilun chen (atelier noirs)
client: the government of xiangshan county, ningbo city
built area: approx. 927 m²
location: xiangshan, ningbo, china
year completed: 2024
typology: public space / sports architecture / urban design
program: basketball court & community gathering space

construction company: Zhejiang Gutai Engineering Co., Ltd.
lighting consultant: ELA Lighting
special acknowledgement: Peinan REN

photography: atelier noirs, miaojie zhang (c) 

Blue Court can also be understood through the lens of the “social condenser” concept developed by Muoto in the Public Condenser project at Paris-Saclay. Much like Muoto’s hybrid structure, Blue Court goes beyond its primary program to become a platform for collective interaction, where sports, public life, landscape, and informal gathering overlap within a single architectural framework.

Both projects share a minimalist structural language, an economy of means, and a strong belief that architecture can intensify social relationships through openness, flexibility, and shared public space rather than through monumentality or excess.