A People’s Pool

Enric Miralles’s and Carme Pinos’s 1992 Olympic Archery range served as an anachronistic generative tool for a new people’s pool. By taking the iconic plan drawing and using it as a section drawing from which to draw out from, the precedent was allowed to take new form as it began to negotiate the programs of a public pool and park. Building a pool situated within a cluster of schools presents a clear programmatic opportunity—to supplement the facilities of the school and provide more extracurricular activities for the students. While there are other pools in the area, the closest children’s swim team, the Bronxworks Blue Waves, is an hour away via public transit. In households of working parents, driving children to extracurricular activities is often unfeasible. Providing supplementary athletic facilities for after school activities within walking distance from four schools would both offer children opportunities not previously available while also relieving some of the stresses on daily household life. This facility is programmed to hold competitive athletic tournaments, including an archery range that would otherwise only be available at private, far-away locations and with a large price tag attached. Access to a wide array of team sports not usually found in the area would not only increase the breadth of after-school opportunities for kids in the area, but could also provide another means for building community through friendly competition and team building amongst the various schools and families local to the area.