People’s Pool is the speculative design intervention for the existing Kosciuszko Pool (“K Pool”) in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. The People’s Pool was part of the inaugural exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art “Architecture Now: New York, New Publics” featuring 12 projects that envision a more accessible, sustainable, and equitable New York.
The Kosciuszko Pool is one of 65 of New York City public pools, completed in 1971 and designed by the architect Morris Lapidus. Proposed intervention will benefit from the unique architectural qualities of the pool and reimagine this civic asset as an expanded space for recreation, social gathering, education, and health in the 21st century. The proposal includes a retractable roof covering half of the pool, a recreation center on an adjacent vacant city-owned lot, new landscape and a natural pool filtration system, and a series of strategic interventions to increase the year-round functionality and accessibility of this important civic resource and overlooked cultural asset. It is envisioned that facilities which now operate only ten weeks of the year will be able to open their doors to morefunctions and users throughout all seasons. Located in a densely populated Brooklyn neighborhood with limited access to public space, the pool has the opportunity to become a new civic platform and typology of the urban landscape.
