In the annals of architecture, design and civic goodness, the enormous public floating pool that is to arrive in New York Harbor on Monday has got to be up there. A dream 25 years in the making, this floating pool is modeled on the old floating pools that used to dot the river around Manhattan and give watery relief to the cities most disadvantaged residents.
Headed up by Ann Buttenweiser's Neptune Foundation, this one is merely the first installment of the Neptune Foundation's vision: to build "a new generation of movable waterfront pools for recreationally underserved communities."
The old ones used to allow river water to flow through them, but this one is totally self contained. Designed by Jonathan Kirschenfeld and Charles Cushing, the pool finishes it's 10 day trip up from Amelia, Louisiana on Monday and will be completed and opened to the public next summer. (Thanks, George!)
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Comments (8)
wow. Amelia, Louisiana? that's my original neck of the woods. funny, eh? i'll have to go swimming in one of these next summer, and envision the Pierre Part Dry Dock as i dive in...
I wish there were a pool in my neighborhood (Inwood). The closest clean pool is in a private tennis club in Riverdale, and they keep it COLD!!! What a boon it would be if each neighborhood had a pool and a neighborhood community place where kids could hang out, etc. And I mean a place that isn't twenty minutes away by subway!!!
PS: When I lived in the Upper East Side, I belonged to the New York Health and Racquet Club, which has amazing pools and very good facilities--all at an excellent price. Would that NYHRC would come up to Inwood or Riverdale! It's an excellent club at the right price. I recommend it highly to anyone who has access to any of its locations.
I heard that we are getting one in Williamsburg? Is that the one?
What about Riverbank State Park (679 Riverside Drive @ 145th Street). That has a lovely large pool that is very clean. I've taught kayaking to kids in that pool the last three winters and it's lovely. Inwood's not that far away...
I lived in Amelia...Scary...
In the old days these pools were for cleansing the great unwashed, as they'd say. To reform the masses of immigrants. Soap sanitation and salvation. And,one can imagine, for fun as well.
Now they just look like fun. We can hope that there's no moral subtext.
Great idea.
Susan