Sometimes architects just need to do rad shit — and not only when they’re asked. Designed by Family and PlayLab, the +POOL, a floating, water-filtering pool in the East River, fits in this category of awesome stuff no on asked for, and they are taking their message to the streets. “Doing Something Big When No One Asks You To Do Something Big” is an installation about +POOL and the impetus behind it, and will be at on view Ace Hotel New York from February 5 – March 1, 2015.
Since its inception, the brains behind +POOL have focused on making its process as fun and engaging as possible, and this time around they will present floor-to-ceiling wall drawings visualizing it from inchoate idea to a full-fledged plus-shaped swimming hole, sharing some of the interesting discoveries and anecdotes to date.
“The overall project of +POOL is as much about building a whole new place for people to swim in clean river water as it is about finding a whole new way to bring big, public, ‘nuts’ projects from coffee-shop idea to full fledged holy-shit-I’m-swimming-in-a-giant-plus-shaped-pool-in-the-middle-of-the-East-River-right-now,” said +POOL founder Archie Coates. “This big drawing is our way of documenting the first four years in one place.”
So does the fact that the subject matter of the exhibition is rad mean that the installation itself is too? “I’m not so sure the installation qualifies as rad shit,” Coates continues. “I mean it’ll be pretty sweet, but it’s more about describing how to go about doing rad shit when nobody asks you. Like a road map. A hand-drawn, temporary, floor-to-ceiling road map. With maybe 100 steps to it.”
Dong-Ping Wong, Jeff Franklin, Archie Coates, Kanye West, Conor Dwyer, Oana Stanescu
Well, we’ve followed along so far — noteworthy steps include: raising $273K from 3,175 Kickstarter supporters, a first for a civic crowdfunding campaign; garnering support from both local agencies and the public, including Kanye West; and, as of last year, testing the filtration concept in the Hudson River. +POOL was named one of the Top 25 Best Inventions of 2013 by Time Magazine, and now they looking to raise the entire $15 million construction budget themselves.
An opening reception hosted by + POOL and Ace Hotel will be held on Thursday, February 5th, 2015, from 7-9pm.
Ace Hotel Gallery
20 West 29th Street
New York, NY 10001
On view from February 5 — March 1
Free and open to the public, 24 hours a day
@pluspoolny
