Family and PlayLab are two New York-based design firms that happen to share an office space. The two firms have put their heads together to try and build a crazy pool that will float in the Hudson river, clean the river water and allow New Yorkers to swim in filtered river water for summers to come.
The project has actually resulted in the launch of not one but two Kickstarter campaigns. The first campaign raised over $40,000 in the summer of 2011 for testing purposes. The idea drew interest from global design firms like Arup and others in the private sector, too. According to those behind the +POOL project, Arup actually supplied Family and PlayLab with a feasability study and gave the concept the thumbs up.
The second campaign currently seeking funding on Kickstarter promises a test pool in the river this August to demonstrate the concept.
The campaign page explains what happens for the project as different funding totals are hit…
If the first 1,400 tiles are reserved here on Kickstarter, we’ll be able to build the + POOL Float Lab in the East River this summer, testing all the filtration materials in real river conditions. This will push the project over the giant tipping point of getting into the water.
At 2,000 tiles, we’ll also be able to open an exhibition and education space coinciding with the Float Lab.. It will be a public space dedicated to education and public involvement with workshops, discussions and real-time data. It’ll also be a great place to hang out near the river.
And at 5,000 tiles, we’ll not only pass the critical one million dollar mark, making it the largest civic crowdfunding project to date, but we’ll be able to finish the custom filtration package. It will be complete, and we’ll have a never-been-done-before system ready to go.
Backers can support the project by staking their claim to one of 70,000 tiles that the design team says will be needed to build the final structure, bringing the total cost to around $15 million. The backers will receive their copy of the tiles in August of this year. The campaign then promises a second copy of each tile will be used in the construction of the pool itself when it launches sometime in the future.
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