Heyyyyyy friends – HAPPY SUMMER!

We've got our annual Summer Pool Party coming up on June 14, 6-9pm at The William Vale in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and as some of the earliest supporters of + POOL, we've set aside some discounted tickets with your names on it (not literally, first come, first serve, but still cool).

As you know, we're constantly fundraising because this project is massive. Building a new park from scratch is hard enough, but building a new type of park IN THE RIVER with new technology and a whole slew of permitting challenges, is even harder. But through the entire journey of making + POOL come to life, we've gotten to do some pretty cool things that make it feel half as difficult as it is. One of those is our Summer Bluefish Program, and this Pool Party exists to directly to support it. 

Now in it's second year, the program—a partnership with NYCHA and Convent of the Sacred Heart—offers free swim lessons to NYC kids who would otherwise not have the opportunity to learn to swim. It's amazing We'll be updating everyone on the progress of that and more at the party but if you've got questions in the meantime, let me know: archie@pluspool.org.

We know you've done a lot to bring + POOL to reality, but if you still want to support, this is a great way. And NOW, thanks to a generous contribution of one of our sponsors, we've got a limited number of discounted tickets to offer on a first come, first serve basis.

Click this link to use discount code "EarlyBacker" at checkout on the "Swimmer" level before June 5, and your ticket will be $50. Drinks, food, music, water, and even a little gift.

Highlights will include: a Catwalk by Models of Aronik Swim, a Surprise DJ (def worth the surprise), Floats by David Shrigley, Food by Chef Andrew Carmellini, and a Performance by Brooklyn Synchro Club.

Of course we still need looooooots of money to build + POOL, so if you're down, we'd be extremely thankful. Invite below, otherwise, happy summer!!!

Cool
Archie, Jeff, Oana & Dong

Friends, 

We're super stoked to announce an exhibition at Ace Hotel which looks back on four wild years of research and development of + POOL, all through floor to ceiling wall drawings by the team. It'll visualize the process from an idea to a pool, while sharing some of + POOL’s most interesting discoveries and anecdotes to date.

The installation will be open 24 hours, seven days a week at The Gallery at Ace Hotel New York, and will launch with an opening reception hosted by + POOL’s founders (Dong-Ping Wong and Oana Stanescu of Family, and Archie Lee Coates IV and Jeff Franklin of PlayLab), board members (Josh David, co-founder of the High Line; Karen Wong, Deputy Director of New Museum; and Marc Kushner, co-founder of Architizer), and + POOL's Deputy Director, Kara Meyer, on Thursday, February 5th, 2015 from 7-9pm. 

Annnnd if you're really trying to get wild: join us for an after-party in Liberty Hall, located on the lower level of Ace Hotel New York, immediately following the public exhibition opening, 9-11pm, exclusively for ALL OF YOU AND ALL OUR FRIENDS that have been supporting this project from the beginning. 

RSVP required, invite-only, admits two. Cash bar. Our dude Drew Heffron is DJing. Rad. 

Come chill with the team, learn the latest, and help us get closer to swimming in a clean river! 

River or bust,
 THE + POOLERS

2014 is off to an amazing start: Float Lab fabrication is underway, we'll be launching it in in late March, and now we're super excited to announce that we've dropped our water sensors in the river this week! Check out the team below.

Every 15 minutes for an entire year, we'll be real-time testing every necessary water quality parameter needed to make the + POOL filtration as efficient as possible. We've teamed up with the nice folks at Hudson River Park Trust and Hudson River Park's Pier 40, as well as the incredible people and facilities at River Project to make this happen, as well as our partners at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the amazing guidance of Riverkeeper, and as always, our engineers at Arup.

Also a big thanks to our naval architecture team at Persak & Wurmfeld and fabricators at Olollo.

And especially Aldo from Olollo and Chris from River Project for braving the swells!

What's even more rad is we'll soon be bringing the data to the public in an easy and educational way. With these tests, we'll not only learn what's in these rivers, but why it's important to be able to swim in them!

Follow + POOL updates at Facebook (www.facebook.com/pluspoolny) and on Twitter (www.twitter.com/pluspoolny)!!!

In July of 2011, you helped make + POOL real. Because of your pledge, we were able to test the first layer of + POOL's filtration system right there in New York's East River. Thank you!!!

Now, we're back on Kickstarter to reach a huge and essential milestone in getting + POOL closer to the water. We'll test all the filtration materials in real-river conditions with a 35 foot by 35 foot temporary and floating science-lab version of the + POOL that we're calling Float Lab. It'll be docked at Brooklyn Bridge Park in the East River this summer, and you'll be able to see for the first time how this POOL actually works. That's wild.

We're 3 days and $58,000 away from our goal. We have a huge ask of you: take another leap with us, and consider a pledge.

As Glenn Mills, Olympian and co-founder of Go Swim, told us, "Olympians don't train alone, so you don't build pools alone." We couldn't agree more.

We are so close to making + POOL a reality for New York, and it all starts with you.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/694835844/pool-tile-by-tile

Below we've included "4 Reasons to Back This Kickstarter Project," and we'd love for you to share in this with us.

1. Your name will be literally written in history – engraved in an iconic piece of New York architecture.

2. You’ll help + POOL build a 35-foot mock-up of the innovative filtration system this summer in the East River at Brooklyn Bridge Park, which is the tipping point for this grassroots initiative and the key to this scientific contribution to our city.

3. You’ll get to swim in the river before anyone else does, when it opens to the public (projected date 2016).

4. You’ll be a part of one of the largest Kickstarted civic projects ever.

For the good of the greater swim,
Archie, Jeff and Dong

Hi All, 

Just a note amongst the recovery efforts and news surrounding Hurricane Sandy that all of us at + POOL hope that you and your loved ones are all dry and safe.  Things are still pretty weird here in blacked-out Lower Manhattan, but it's nothing compared to how places like Staten Island, Breezy Point other neighborhoods across NY and NJ were hit.  The resilience, camaraderie and patience city-wide has been incredible, and we hope everything can get cleaned-up, rebuilt, and turned back on soon.

If you would like to and are able to help in any way please volunteer or donate:

General
https://www.nyc.gov/html/fund/html/donate/donate.shtml
https://donate.unitedwaynyc.org/page/contribute/uwsandyrecovery
Text: RECOVERY to 52000 to donate $10 to United Way Hurricane Recovery

Staten Islandhttps://statenisland.recovers.org/
http://www.tunneltotowers.org/

RockawaysThe Rockaways Waterfront Alliance has setup a food, water, supplies drop-off center at Firehouse 59 at 5803 Rockaways Beach Blvd (Beach 59th St.)

Red Hook
https://redhook.recovers.org/

Astoria
https://astoria.recovers.org/

Greenpoint
Councilmen Lander's office has set-up a food, water, supplies drop-off center at Church of Ascension 122 Java St.

Lower East Side
https://lowereastside.recovers.org/

The Family + PlayLab + POOL offices are still without power and our access to email and phone service is spotty at best, so our apologies for any inconvenience.  We should be able to get back into the office on Monday.

Huge thanks for all the efforts across the city and please take care everyone! 

Dong, Jeff and Archie