Photo by HOOPcycle

HOOPcycle: a contemporary basketball court on wheels

HOOPcycle is a MesoAmerican + contemporary basketball court on wheels that transforms urban spaces into places of play and invites players to reinvent the rules of the game.

Created by artist Marisa Morán Jahn and architect Rafi Segal, this vibrant, public art project invites recreational equity and celebrates the game’s pre-Columbian cultural heritage.

The first HOOPcycle was produced in partnership with Chicago’s National Public Housing Museum in 2025 and continues to toodle around the great Windy City. The second HOOPcycle, produced in partnership with Corvetto Basket Academy, will premiere in 2026 at Milan Design Week (Salone) in partnership with The City of Milan.

HOOPcycle’s design reinterprets the Meso-American tradition of papel picado (“perforated paper”) in which the holes — like portals —are said to let the past come through. Aside from the functional aspect of the holes (to let wind pass through and reduce weight), the ornamentation celebrates the game as an important form of cultural expression. 


Read more on the HOOPcycle website.

Recommended by Luisa Bravo