This Floating Pool for the East River Is Closer to Reality Than You Think

What does it take to build a floating pool in New York City’s East River? A sublime vision, a lot of Kickstarter money, support from a host of non-profit organizations, and Google data. But leave it to the four architects behind +POOL—Dong-Ping Wong and Oana Stanescu of Family New York with Archie Lee Coates and Jeffrey Franklin of PlayLab Design Office—who have managed all that since first announcing their public pool project in 2010. The quartet recently wrapped up their Hudson River Float Lab, which tested their filtration system in real river conditions by collecting data every 15 minutes for six months. Coates says that "dream team" project partners like Columbia University’s Earth Institute and the construction giant Arup has made the idea a viable one: "The project has not only gotten genuine support, but its gotten stronger. Our golden rule is just to be open to everybody’s advice." 

The 9,000-square-foot pool is oriented as four lap-length pools joined as a cross (rather, a plus sign). The team behind +Pool aims to make it the largest crowdsourcing civic architecture project of all time: architecture meant for "you, for your friend, for your mom, for your dad, for your girlfriend, for your boyfriend, for your kids, for your boss, for your boss's boss, for your coffee guy, for your burrito guy, for that dude over there, for New York City."

The team is continuing its fundraising drive—which first culminated in over $250,000 of contributions via a 2013 Kickstarter campaign—in order to finance the next stage of water filtration testing. The first two phases, completed in the summer of 2014, experimented with material combinations which meant a mixed bag of results. By the fourth phase of testing, +Pool figured out the right mix and achieved a clean water rating.

So how to chip in? +Pool's first annual Swim Benefit is being held on Wednesday, October 29 at Jane's Carousel on the Brooklyn waterfront. Join board members Joshua David, co-founder of the Highline; Karen Wong, deputy director of the New Museum; and Marc Kushner, co-founder of Architizer; along with the founders of Opening Ceremony and Olympic medalist swimmer Conor Dywer. You can also help support the cause at the benefit auction, where you can bid on a private swim lesson with Dwyer.