NYC's communal backyard has a major project underway.
The Central Park Conservancy just released the design of a new $150 million pool and ice rink, and it's a beaut. The need to replace the aging Lasker Pool and Rink was announced earlier this year, and now we have our first peek at a complex that will open in 2024, according to Curbed.
The Lasker Pool and Rink never quite fit in Central Park. The enormous concrete structure is a barrier between the Ravine and the Harlem Meer, cutting off the natural flow of water to the north of the park. The new pool, which will certainly become one of your favorite summer activities, will be built into the hill along the site, opening room for a boardwalk that will connect the waterway to the freshwater marsh. During the winter, when the pool is converted into an ice skating rink, the boardwalk will be turned into a supercool skating ribbon. (In the meantime, you can check out these cool spots for ice skating in NYC until it opens.)
Rendering: Courtesy of Susan T. Rodriguez Architecture and the Central Park Conservancy
Smaller footprint, local materials, passive climate control, a pool house with a green roof that will blend into the landscape: This is what we want to find in our parks today. When the Lasker Pool and Rink opened in 1966, it was fashionable to dominate nature. Now, designers set out to be as discrete as possible, and follow nature's lead. According to the Central Park Conservancy, the redesign will repair "the damaged ecology" of the current pool.
Just as important to New York families: There will be a splash pad adjacent to the pool, adding to the possibilities of summertime play. Needless to say, we'll never decline a visit to the city's best water playgrounds!
We're counting the days–the years?–until it opens.
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