Just in time for warm summer weather in NYC, we came across this AWESOME guerrilla design project: swimming pools in Brooklyn — made out of old dumpsters! We’re salivating at the thought of diving into one of these re-purposed trash receptacles to take a swim. (Certainly, a phrase we never thought we’d utter). No word on the pool’s exact location, (if we knew we would be there right now swimming), but read on for more insight into its creation!
Our friends at ReadyMade were the first to discover the guerrilla pool built by a trio of creatives and designers: Jocko Weyland, David Belt, and Alix Feinkind, who started Macro|Sea. They had seen the dumpster pool originally done in Athens, Georgia by Curtis Crowe of the band Pylons, and decided to recreate it. This summer is the testing and prototype phase for their adaptive reuse project, and they hope to build more in strip malls around America.
It took only 12 days to get the materials and put everything together for their grand opening on June 4th. For the DIY-ers out there, you’ll need to buy a big dumpster, seal up the seams, add a liner, fill it with sand for a soft bottom, add a tarp and a lot of water.
Macro|Sea’s mission statement is to “do projects we find interesting.” Beyond creating secret pool hangouts in parking lots in Brooklyn, the team also focuses on the redevelopment of strip malls. Much like our own desire to overhaul suburbia in our design competition REBURBIA, Macro|Sea hopes to transform the American strip mall. “By stripping and altering its [strip malls] common architectural features, adding community space and involvement, and carefully selecting and curating vendors and the space itself, Macro-Sea hopes to create and promote a place for people to shop, meet, learn, and engage with one another.”
Along with their redevelopment of strip malls, they hope that the dumpster pools will show people that “with not too much expense you can creatively reuse what is basically considered urban detritus and make something really cool and fun and also fairly easy to put together.” While dumpsters are not generally destined for the landfill, their point is to use something that is already made and available to create something new. Count us in. If only we knew where it was…
http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/07/10/dive-into-a-dumpster-guerrilla-pool/
