This Futuristic Floating Pool Could Make A Splash In New York City
The floating +POOL concept is set to hit NYC in Summer 2024.
Most New Yorkers would surely prefer to avoid taking a dip in the East River, but that unlikely locale could soon prove the sight of an ingenious design experiment bringing accessible swimming to the public.
Known as +POOL, the concept (more than a decade in the making) would filter and revitalize river water in a floating design that’s much cooler than Kramer swimming river laps on “Seinfeld.”
At the core of the concept is “free and safe access to the waters around New York City for swimming,” with an emphasis on a unique four-pools-in-one concept (including dedicated space for children, one for swimming laps, one for lounging and one for watersports).
The idea was dreamed up by designers Archie Lee Coates IV and Jeff Franklin of PLAYLAB, along with Dong-Ping Wong and Oana Stanescu.
The project launched on Kickstarter, the first civic architecture project to use the crowdfunding platform, eventually leading to a non-profit created in 2015 to bolster access to safe swimming water and recreation for New Yorkers.
Now that it’s been given the greenlight to start testing, a closer look at the concept reveals forward-thinking functionality, to say the least.
The floating pool would as a strainer of sorts, filtering “river water within its walls, removing bacteria, contaminants and odors, leaving only safe, swimmable water that meets local and state standards.”
Plans call for as much as 600,000-plus gallons of water filtered on the daily.
And ideally, the project will move ahead, thanks to $16 million total in city and state funding, despite a pandemic-induced stall.
Initially, the concept will be tested using a 2,000-square-foot version of the floating pool, with future plans calling for +POOL to operate between mid-May and early September.
After more than a decade of planning, fundraising and dreaming, easy access to relief from the heat might be closer at hand than ever before for New Yorkers, and this time, it’s not about knowing someone with VIP access to a swanky rooftop pool.
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