Almost immediately after the Parks Department’s new Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center opened in the Little Haiti section of East Flatbush in early February, the building hummed with teens vigorously hanging out. They slumped, joked, strolled, shot hoops, rested between sets, and generally gave the impression there was nowhere they’d rather be. That’s one immediate measure of good architecture: the pleasure quotient. The building was designed to make the most of leisure time. Sure, you might suffer through a deep squat, grit your teeth for another lap in the pool, and complain about a stretch, but you do all that because it makes you feel good.
Is architecture responsible for that overflow of wellness? In theory, it’s the equipment that counts. Whether you’re riding an exercise bike in a basement or a penthouse, the payoff for your body is the same. But Shirley — which is what the architects call both their building and the pioneering Black congresswoman it honors — is a public space that could compete with a Manhattan condo both in its amenities (podcast booth, dance studio, learning kitchen) and its deluxe design. The pricing, though, is bare-bones: As at all Parks Department rec centers, membership is free for those 24 and under, $150 a year for adults, and $25 for seniors.
