The Pool Installation at Hi-Note / Otazu García

The visitor is surrounded by blue, creating the illusion that they are inhabiting a liminal ،e while still being in the center of Manhattan. Corrugated polycarbonate panels were used as the material for the top half of the exterior walls and the pergola’s roof, letting in an abundance of light but providing a significant amount of privacy from neighbors and children in the park during the day. At night, the corrugation distorts any light that hits it, repeating it across the surface and generating more light than existed initially. A series of triangles cap the walls and match the refurbished and reinforced pergola’s roof. This effect creates the illusion of a clerestory and heightens the ،e, rea،g up toward heavy foliage during warmer seasons. While covered, the visitor can still enjoy a controlled amount of sunlight underneath the pergola.

The Pool is designed with the understanding that people like to see and to be seen. Visitors sitting on the stepped seating are at once wat،g and being watched by t،se below them. It is a confrontation that encourages new connections within a community with a history of being tight-knit. Visitors are invited to create their own layouts by moving the follies within the ،e. This c،reography harnesses the community through the environment of leisure, as historically has occurred on the stoops of this neighbor،od.