A proposal to build a permanent floating pool is gaining traction as its designers attempt to raise funds, via Kickstarter, to test filtration methods needed to build the project. Watch their pitch video after the jump.
Brooklyn Eagle: Dong-Ping Wong from the firm Family New York, and Archie Lee Coates IV and Jeffrey Franklin of PlayLab thought of the idea during last year’s blazing hot summer. They collaborated with engineering firm Arup New York to design the pool, which they call “+Pool.” ….
This is not as easy as it sounds because different cleanliness standards exist — one for natural swimming areas like beaches, and a stricter standard for public swimming pools. +Pool falls into a new, never-before regulated area because it is basically a floating “giant strainer” dropped into the river, Wong said. Water filtration membranes are built into the walls of the pool to filter contaminated river water into clean, swimmable pool water.
As part of the testing phase, the team has launched a Kickstarter (a popular fundraising site) web page to raise the money needed to build and test a model of the filtration method. +Pool’s designers are asking the public to pledge $25,000 by Friday, July 15. By last Thursday, roughly 80 backers had kicked in $7,000. Just one day later, more than $10,000 had been raised, donated by 185 backers.
“We’re excited at the reception this idea has gotten from the public, engineers and organizations. It’s very rare — the pool has generated its own interest from the ground up,” Wong said.
