Vacated for more than 20 years, the 1936 McCarren Pool, a Robert-Moses era landmark, has been brought back to its original the grandeur, updated and added on to for contemporary uses. A year-round indoor recreation and community center now occupy the historic bathhouse and the pool, completely rebuilt, offers a new ‘beach’ peninsula which transforms into an ice skating rink in the winter.
Modern insertions within and adjacent to the original buildings defer to historic elements - the main archway entrance, the symmetry of the wings, and the exposed concrete ribs and vaults of the interior structure - and engage details from the building’s history, materials and function. The symmetry of the plan informs the location of new changing pavilions poolside. These poured-in-place concrete structures are lightweight, modern interpretations of McCarren’s own canopy overlook. Inside the bathhouse wings, the concrete structure remains exposed in the restoration with new clerestories for visual continuity of the original vaults and added daylight. The community center contains a basketball court, weight and cardio areas as well as multipurpose meeting rooms and offices. The original wire storage baskets for swimmers were discovered and reused on the ceiling of the two building lobbies. Salvaged wood planks from the Coney Island boardwalk were refinished and line many of the walls of the community rooms and pavilions.
McCarren Pool is situated within the 35-acre McCarren Park on Lorimer Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Built in 1936 by Robert Moses and designed by Aymar Embury II, the pool, in combination with the surrounding park, is one of the most significant achievements of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal program in New York City.
At the main archway, all facility users enter through grand central arches, open to the sky. The archway, in turn, is the central directional organizer of the outdoor activities, creating a shared threshold between the busy city and this center for fun and engagement.
Key to the success of the design is the respect given to the most prominent original architectural elements of the building including the main archway entrance, the symmetry of the bathhouse wings and site plan, and the exposed concrete ribs and vaults of the interior structure.
Key to the success of the design is the respect given to the most prominent original architectural elements of the building: the main archway entrance, the symmetry of the bathhouse wings and site plan, and the exposed concrete ribs and vaults of the interior structure.
The reconfiguration of the pool includes two outdoor changing pavilions and a peninsula into the main pool with spray features during the summer and ice skating in winter.
Entry Lobby The existing doorways are reactivated with new glass and bronze surrounds. Clothing baskets found as part of the renovation are hung from the ceiling.
Exposed concrete ribs and vault of the original structure remain as prominent elements of the interior, unbroken by new interior walls.
New partitions separating rooms and corridors are topped with fire-rated glass clerestories allowing the visual continuity of the vaults to provide borrowed daylight between spaces.