Greater Good: Parson’s Pro Bono Swimming Facilities for NYC

A rendering by graduate architecture students at the New School’s Parsons School of Design shows the women’s locker room at the Sunset Park Recreation Center and Pool in Brooklyn, New York.

When the New York City


Department of Parks & Recreation

needed to revamp some of its swimming facilities, it saw not only banged-up lockers and chipped shower tile but also a learning opportunity. The result is a five-year partnership in which graduate architecture students at

the New School’s Parsons School of Design

provide pro bono design and construction work for the city while gaining real-life experience. The first of these projects completed was a changing pavilion for the


Highbridge Pool and Recreation Center

, a legacy of the WPA program. And this spring

saw the opening of changing pavilions at the

Sunset Park Recreation Center and Pool

, a WPA landmark in Brooklyn. Under the supervision of Parsons associate professor Alfred Zollinger, also principal of

Matter Architecture Practice

, the workshop’s dozen students designed two structures totaling 3,700 square feet to accommodate up to 1,300 swimmers per day.

The original building, a 1936 landmark, alongside one of the two changing pavilions.

A completed facade in locally sourced white cedar, galvanized steel, and polycarbonate. Photography by Kasia Broussalian.

<<See more from the July 2015 issue of

Interior Design