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Parsons Design Workshop Contributes to Splash House

by Ian Volner | Wednesday, July 27, 2011 | 3 Comments

The Design Workshop at Parsons the New School for Design was founded 15 years ago to offer pro bono architectural services to not-for-profit entities in need. Now, as part of new initiative, the Workshop is partnering with New York City’s Department of Parks & Recreation to bring new structures to under-served public spaces across the five boroughs—beginning with the massive Highbridge Pool and Recreation Center in Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood.

The historic swimming spot—the second largest in the city, after the facility in Astoria, Queens—sits on the site of a former reservoir atop a lofty cliff near the Harlem River. Since it serves New York’s most densely populated neighborhood, it can get pretty hectic in the summer months, and so the Parsons team has devised a new outbuilding to help accommodate some of the seasonal traffic.

Splash House, as the new pavilion will be called, will feature additional changing rooms, showers, and other amenities that will allow the older, WPA-era building to maintain operations as a rec center year round, instead of doing double duty as a giant locker room. A “water curtain” will act as an additional recreational element for children, and a full study of the compound will be undertaken to identify potential renovations for the future.

Says Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, “We have been impressed by the professionalism and design skills of the talented students at Parsons… [They] have worked diligently and intelligently to meet the community’s needs.” Splash House should be ready in time for summer 2012.

Renderings courtesy of Parsons the New School for Design.