An Almost 14-Year Timeline of New York City’s Hypothetical Floating Pool

Good things come to those who wait, but as climate change heats up our cities, breaking record temperatures year after year, how long should we wait for a swimming pool? For + POOL, that would be, well, nearly 14 years. An open-air pool designed to float on New York City’s East River that would provide much-needed water recreation while also filtering hundreds of thousands of gallons of polluted water into "swimmable" quality, so much time has passed since the project’s public introduction one would think the concept was entirely doomed. This month, however, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the + POOL would receive state and local funding which will allow it to, finally, get off the ground and into the river—we hope.

Despite a history that might make it seem as if it was not meant to be, many haven’t given up on this charming invention; perhaps it’s the growing attention to urban waterways capturing cities across the world, or even the novelty of swimming beneath the city’s bridges and buildings that’s keeping this project afloat. Over the past decade-plus, the pool’s designers and corresponding nonprofit organization have been churning ahead with filtration testing, advocating for legislation, fundraising, and community programming while navigating bureaucratic hurdles. The project may have been ‘stalled,’ but the work has not. So, as follows, a non-exhaustive timeline of the big milestones for + POOL—all of the starts, stops, and "will-they-won’t-they" moments.

June 2010: + POOL is launched

In a blog post from designers Dong Ping-Wong, Oana Stenascu, Archie Lee Coates, and Jeffrey Franklin, an idea to turn part of the East River into a swimming pool is launched publicly through a website, a zine, and a newsprint. Called + POOL, it was inspired, the authors write, "a super hot summer. We wanted to swim in the river, and didn’t totally know why you couldn’t." The pool would, theoretically, filter water from the river for swimming. Shaped like a plus sign, the pool would be a "pool for everyone" containing four distinctive programs in each ‘arm’’ lap swimming, a kids’ pool, ‘hanging out,’ and water sports.

June 15, 2011: Fundraising begins

The designers launch a Kickstarter with hopes of raising $250,000 to design and test a primary filtration layer. They raise the money within one week.

October 2012

After going dark for a year, + POOL reemerges with another fundraising campaign, this time with a $1 million goal. "Even with the funds, building the pools is not going to be easy. After all, the Olympic-sized + POOL will have to filter more than 500,000 gallons of river water a day to make it clean and safe," reads an Observer story that couches the project as a possible novel way to fund architectural projects.

Wong tells The Observer, "This all could be a potentially new model for how architecture can be made…The High Line was so exciting to see happen. It started with two guys and took ten years. We feel like the pool has that kind of same potential.’" Their campaign is launched via Vimeo (the video has since been removed).

June 12, 2013

The design team launches another Kickstarter to raise $250,000; the goal is met by mid-July. Having completed preliminary tests in collaboration with engineering firm ARUP between 2011 and 2013, they move to the next phase, called "Float Lab," which would "test a combination of different materials right in the East River and assess the water quality across 19 different parameters, ensuring clean and safe water for swimming across all standards" using a 35’x35’ device floating on the Brooklyn coast. The pool, they hope, will be built by 2016.

October 2014

+ POOL officially becomes a nonprofit, 5013c3 organization called Friends of + POOL. Founding members include High Line cofounder Joshua David, Marc Kushner, a co-founder of Architizer, and Karen Wong, then-deputy director of New Museum. The nonprofit organization is tasked with building public support and funding for the + POOL, and they begin hosting a series of fundraisers.

June 2015

+ POOL designers successfully test their Float Lab, filtering East River water through a series of membranes to create clean, swimmable water. According to a 2015 Curbed New York story, the designers now are embarking on feasibility studies, testing 10 different locations along the East River to find a possible location. Those included: Bush Terminal Park in Sunset Park; Brooklyn Bridge Park in Dumbo/Brooklyn Heights; Domino Sugar Factory in South Williamsburg; Governors Island; Hallets Point in Astoria; Hudson River Park; Hunters Point in Long Island City; St. George in Staten Island; Transmitter Park in Greenpoint; and Two Bridges on the Lower East Side.

April 2017

Friends of + POOL team up with Heinekin’s "The Cities Project," which promises $100,000 to the organization if they can get 100,000 Earth Day pledges on its now-defunct platform, swimintheriver.com. According to Curbed, the partnership will effectively underwrite a public art campaign for the + POOL, including a large, LED floating + POOL "light" in the East River.

February 2017

The Manhattan Community Board 1 Water Committee drafts and passes a resolution to recommend + POOL to be incorporated into the plans for the Brooklyn Bridge Esplanade. The resolution officially recommends the plans to the Mayor’s Office.

September 2019

The New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) issues a "Request for Expressions of Interest" for a self-filtering floating pool to be located on the Lower East Side. While Curbed reports that the + POOL team was "unaware of the request," + POOL submits to the call in November.

New details about the + POOL are revealed by the New York Times in October, which describes the pool’s structure: built from aluminum and PVC pipe, the floating pool’s lighting will also change color based on water quality. Designers collaborated with naval engineers to refine the final design.

May 7, 2021

+ POOL receives the green light from the city, which, according to Architectural Digest, would require them to raise another $20 to 25 million to build the prototype pool. The anticipated opening date would be in 2023.

June 21, 2023

New York City Hall officially directs city agencies to develop new standards for "nontraditional pools and beaches," effectively bridging regulatory gaps that would allow for + POOL to operate.

January 2024

New York Governor Kathy Hochul announces a $16 million partnership commitment (including $12 million from city funds) to pilot and scale + POOL, with a scheduled opening date in 2025 on the Lower East Side. (The public is still invited to donate to the nonprofit.)

But following this announcement, original + POOL designer Dong Ping-Wong took to Instagram, calling the announcement, "bittersweet." The nonprofit Friends of + POOL was started, he writes, to, "protect the project from private interests and ensure it remained a project for truly everyone." However, he cites loopholes "exploited" by former Mayor Bill de Blasio, which "waived through" new development towers in nearby Chinatown—towers that the community protested. His concerns—that the nonprofit board’s reliance on philanthropy, not its original crowdfunding, could play into Chinatown gentrification—signal that the project’s success could lead to the downfall of its original intent.

Top Image + POOL Rendering, 2024. Designed by Family New York & Playlab, Inc. Image by proto, Courtesy of Friends of + POOL.

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