Dumpster Pools: An Excellent Example of Cool Adaptive Reuse
One of the hallmarks of design innovation is the ability to take something that’s mundane and transform it into something new and exciting. Well we can’t think of a more fitting example of that than the wildly creative and fun dumpster pools that popped up on one of New York City‘s busiet streets, Park Avenue, this summer. Made from actual dumpsters that were cleaned out, painted and fitted with all of the appropriate parts, these unlikely watering holes really made a splash with the public. Talk about taking something that is trash-y (literally) and turning into treasure through the magic of smart design!
Conceived by Macro Sea, the pools began humbly as guerrilla installations in a backyard of secret location in Brooklyn. Jocko Weyland, David Belt, and Alix Feinkind, the founders of Macro Sea said that their hope for the project was that it would 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.” Our thoughts exactly!
And it’s pretty obvious that the design trio succeeded in their goal because this summer, the New York City Mayor’s Office and the Department of Transportation invited them to participate in NYC’s Third Annual 2010 Summer Streets event. Hundreds of New Yorkers dumpster dove (literally) in Macro Sea logo-emblazoned pools and hung out at the surrounding “lo-fi country club.” Lined up along Park Avenue and decked out with all the trimmings you would expect a real pool to have (safety railings, depth indicator signage, and even lifeguards, you could hardly recognize these big, red former trash receptacles. This is one case of clever adaptive reuse that was executed swimmingly.
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YES. Dumpster pools. Such a brilliant idea to turn something unconventional into a public gathering space!