The summer is finally here, which means heat. And while Lake Michigan is swimmable, the Hudson River straddling New York City is not. In an effort to help bring attention to the condition of the water and to provide a place for everyone to swim, the + Pool project was initiated. It represents the best kind of collaboration, as the designers have worked with engineers, civic organizations, environmental groups and the community to create a large pool on the river.
We spent the last year talking with local cultural, developmental and environmental groups, learning about the waterways and refining the social and ecological performance of the project.
We've talked with municipal and civic organizations to find out what kinds of permitting and approvals we'd need to get + Pool into the river.
We teamed up with Arup and spent the winter studying water quality, structural configurations, energy use, site potentials and of course the filtration system. Arup helped us understand the state of New York City's waters and what the pool needed to do to achieve our desired level of water quality. At the end of May, we received the final feasibility report from Arup that essentially said "yes, this can happen, and here's how."
The project is interesting because it actually filters river water through the pool's walls. The concentric layers of filtration materials that make up the sides of the pool are designed to remove bacteria, contaminants and odors, leaving only safe and swimmable water that meets city, state and federal standards of quality.
The project has largely been funded through individual contributions on its Kickstarter page. Just to refresh your memory, Kickstarter is a web site that allows people to give donations to support creative and community projects throughout the world. Check out their homepage here.
