MACRO | SEA

Renderings by Vamos Architects.

Following our 2009 debut of the Macro Sea dumpster pools, we’ve been working on creating mobile swimming pools that can be set up anywhere. We ended up with a dumpster pool that you can literally unload off of a truck, fill with water, plug in and go swimming. Our goal was to use these mobile swimming pools, made from objects typically utilized to store and haul junk, in unexpected settings.

As chance would have it, we were honored with an invitation from the New York City Mayor’s Office and the Department of Transportation to participate in NYC’s Third Annual 2010 Summer Streets event. Iconic Grand Central Station and the Park Avenue Viaduct was to be the backdrop of our first public mobile dumpster pool project. On August 7, 2010, hundreds of New Yorkers swam in our dumpster pools and lounged at our lo-fi country club at the first Summer Streets weekend. It was a tremendous thrill and a lot of fun to park our pools in the heart of New York City.

Special thanks and appreciation go out to Dani Simons, Director of Strategic Communication of the DOT. Without Dani, this project would never have happened as a part of Summer Streets. Macro Sea would also like to thank DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan for her amazing vision, persistence, and commitment to altering New York City’s urban landscape for the better. Emil Lissauer and Christie Huus of the Mayor’s Office were instrumental in helping us bring the pools to Manhattan. We are also really appreciative of the amazing team at Cooper Tank, especially Adrienne Cooper, Chris Landshof, and David Hillcoat, who supported our project in its fledging stages.

The photos follow the pools’ journey from fabrication to a test lot in Brooklyn to Park Avenue for Summer Streets.

Now that we’ve made code-compliant, street-legal dumpster pools, Macro Sea is working to create cost-effective ways to bring pop-up pools to municipalities nationwide. We are continuing our efforts to repurpose space and adapt unlikely environments to our collective will and desire.