UPDATE: Floating East River +Pool Concept Raises First Round of Funding

Get excited New York! If everything goes along swimmingly, we could have our very own floating pool in the East River by next summer (don't worry, there's a filtration system to clean the water!). You may remember +Pool, a concept for a floating plus-shaped pool unveiled last summer. Well, now the designers are pushing forward to turn the concept into a reality. A whole year may seem too long to wait to enjoy a refreshing dip, sun bathing, and fantastic views of the Manhattan skyline, but the process is zipping along, with the design team reaching its $25,000 fundraising goal through Kickstarter. As of today, the team has raised more than $29,000, which will help fund the research and development to land this thing in the river.

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Designed for everyone, the +Pool is large enough to be an Olympic length lap pool, a place to lounge and sun bathe, or a pool for sports with 9,000 sq. ft. of play space. The pool, which combines four pools (children’s, sports, lap and lounge) into one plus shape, is more than just an awesome place to cool off. Ideally, the +Pool team is aiming for the floating pool to help filter the water from the East River. A floating pool is an ambitious project in itself, but one that actually improves its environment is the ultimate in sustainability and one we wholeheartedly support! A three-step water filtration process – Primary Screening, Secondary Filtration, and Disinfection, takes in the river’s water and makes it clean enough to swim in according to all city, state and federal standards of quality.

The +Pool team made up of Ding-Ping Wong of F A M I L Y Architects, Archie Lee Coates IV and Jeffrey Franklin of PlayLab has been working double time this last year with engineers, swimmers, consultants and planners studying what it would take to swim in clean, natural river water right here in the city. Even Arup, one of the most innovative engineering firms in the world, is helping them out because Arup saw something new and unique, so they have donated their resources to help make +Pool a reality. In May, the firm finished a feasibility study that determined the concept was totally possible and now they have to test it out.

This is where you come in. The +Pool team still needs funding to make it a reality. They have already raised more than their $25,000 goal to begin physical tests of the filtration materials and methods, but donations can continue to be made until July 15th. With even more funding they can test and develop even more, and they expect it’ll take $500,000 to build a full-scale mockup of one of the parts of the swimming pool. As with any Kickstarter donation, the team will reward you with various goodies based on the size of your gift. More donations mean the faster this concept has a chance of becoming a reality. Aren’t you just dying to go swimming right now?

+ +Pool

+ Donate to +Pool on Kickstarter