Branching out - A/LTA Architects' Basketball Tree is a real winner

What did the tree say when it looked in the mirror? “Geometry!” (“Gee, I’m a tree!” Geddit?) That is my all-time favourite joke – I saw it in a Zig & Zag annual in the mid 1990s and it’s been firmly rooted in my repertoire ever since.

Anyway! French architecture firm a/LTA occasionally branches out from their building design projects, and in this case have cultivated a playful hybrid that combines a tree’s appearance with functional geometric planes and apertures. In short, a series of basketball hoops arranged at varying heights and projecting in different directions from a tree-like structure.

It’s designed to accommodate basketball-players of all shapes and sizes, and sets a pleasant form against the sparse concrete backdrop of the court. Perhaps city planning authorities everywhere should take a leaf out of their book…