New York’s +POOL: A Floating Pool Built Around River-Water Filtration

A floating swimming pool in New York city's East River was proposed to offer New Yorkers the opportunity to enjoy swimming in clean waters while at the same time making a positive environmental impact. +POOL aims to make river swimming accessible through a floating facility that treats the water supplied to its swimming area. The idea connects public recreation with the engineering needed to create a controlled swimming environment in a tidal waterway. Its history stretches from a design concept in 2010 through filtration trials, fundraising and construction of a smaller pilot facility.

Archie Lee Coates IV and Jeff Franklin of PlayLab and Dong-Ping Wong and Oana Stanescu of the former architecture firm Family are the four designers behind the project. They came up with the idea of creating an Olympic-size public pool in the East River in 2010 and continued developing the project over the following decade. In May 2021, Friends of +POOL received a notice to proceed from the New York City Economic Development Corporation. This was a development milestone, distinct from permission to open a finished public swimming pool.

The designers have said that they had to go through two years of reviewing by the city and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC). Prior to this stage, they had to gather a team of dedicated volunteers, drawing up and redesigning iterations of pools, and researching the science behind water filtration. The early proposal described filtration of up to 600,000 gallons a day. That was a design target for the project, rather than a report of daily water treatment at an already open facility. A flow target describes water passing through a system; it does not measure the removal of pollution from the whole East River.

The full concept combines space for swimming with a platform for public activity. Its early publicity attracted interest from figures including Kanye West and Neil Patrick Harris, and from Andrew Yang during his 2021 mayoral campaign. The attention helped make the proposal visible, but the practical path to opening depended on engineering, infrastructure and approval stages.

By July 2026, the project had progressed to construction of POOL1, a pilot using one section of the larger design. Its announced schedule remained tied to further testing and the availability of services at Pier 35.

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[h/t: My Modern Met]

POOL1 and the 2026 construction update

A July 29, 2026 project update reported that construction of the pilot was nearly complete, but that installation that summer could not proceed because shoreline utility work would continue into autumn. The required sewer connection was being replaced. The team said its on-site demonstration would be postponed and approvals adjusted for installation the following year. This is a specific construction update, not an announcement that public swimming has begun. The distinction also explains why a pool can be largely built while still lacking what it needs at its intended location. A floating structure, functioning treatment equipment and a prepared waterfront site have to come together before the next stage can take place.

What water treatment must demonstrate

For a river-fed pool, attractive architecture is only part of the challenge. The project’s July 2026 explanation identifies a concrete reason for the sewer connection: waste from washing the filters must be discharged to the sewer instead of returned to the river. Water treatment therefore includes both the water delivered to swimmers and the handling of material removed during cleaning. The team also described a later construction phase for facilities such as lifeguard stations, showers and bathrooms after the operational demonstration. These are ordinary pool requirements within an unusual piece of floating infrastructure. The amount of water passing through a system does not by itself establish that the whole river is being cleaned. The proposal is interesting precisely because it connects access to water with treatment infrastructure. The engineering is central to the public-space idea. Swimmers would experience a pool on the river, while operators would be managing water quality, equipment and waste streams beneath and around that space. The project’s progress is best understood through those linked tasks: treating river water for a defined swimming area and completing a facility that people can actually use. +POOL’s official project information.