Pigalle Duperré basketball court 2020 unveiled by Nike, Ill Studio and Stéphane Ashpool

Since it first filled an otherwise drab gap between Parisian buildings with kaleidoscopic colour – and a chuffed gang of local basketball players – the Pigalle Duperré basketball court has been a recurring internet hit. Designed by French design agency Ill Studio with Stéphane Ashpool, as part of his fashion brand Pigalle’s collaboration with Nike, it has enjoyed five redesigns since the inaugural paint job in 2009 – its latest for 2020 revealed over the weekend on Instagram.

As is tradition, the new court is unveiled in tandem with a new Nike Pigalle Converse collection, its core colourways inspiring the palette for the court. Replacing 2017’s sunset-hued gradients, the 2020 design is more graphical, featuring block colours, huge numbers and text painted onto sections of the floor. The walls wrapping the court see a gradated spectrum akin to a Pantone chart, again inspired by the fashion collection’s range of tones.

So far, we only have one image to go on (but check back for updates) via a simultaneous upload on Ashpool and Ill Studio’s own Instagrams, both captioned: "From us to the youth. New chapter. New rules." Ashpool has also been previewing snippets of the new collection, which you can see below.

In September 2019, the project expanded to Beijing, where a new Pigalle Nike basketball court was built for the "girls and youth" of China's capital and made from Nike Grind – a material created from recycled shoes and manufacturing waste. The Beijing court was also designed by Ill Studio, and according to Ashpool, marked "the start of expansions" for the project. Then, in December, two more courts opened in Mexico City at the Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, a former Olympic site and home of the basketball team Capitanes de Ciudad de México.