(Model of the floating pool. Photo courtesy of Jonathan Kirschenfeld Architects.)

Jonathan Kirschenfeld Architects is reintroducing a floating pool to New York City. At the turn of the previous century, we are told, the city “had as many as 15 floating bathhouses moored along the East and Hudson rivers. These floating bathhouses were tied up to existing piers during the summer, usually near the tenement districts and provided an opportunity for the public not only to bathe, but to learn to swim.”


(Building the pool in Louisiana. Photo courtesy of Jonathan Kirschenfeld Architects.)

Once completed it “will be towed to its designated waterfront site, which might vary from summer to summer. Acting as a kind of 'migrating recreation pier', the pool would serve neighborhoods which would otherwise lack direct access to public pool facilities.”


(Note the summery colors of the cabin roofs. Photo courtesy of Jonathan Kirschenfeld Architects.)


(Floating towards New York. Photo courtesy of Jonathan Kirschenfeld Architects.)


(Lounging around the pool. Photo courtesy of Jonathan Kirschenfeld Architects.)

Next on the production line: a floating oxygen greenhouse for those neighborhoods without direct access to clean air. Also: for those without direct access to clean drinking water, a floating river.