The People’s Pool Project
Organized by: Karolina Częczek and Adam Frampton from Only If as part of public-pools
Photographs by Anna Morgowicz

February 19-July 29, 2023
Architecture Now: New York, New Publics
On view at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York

This event is recommended by the Polish Cultural Institute New York.

About the Project
From public-pools website

Ukrainian-born architect Morris Lapidus (1902-2001) is mostly known for the exuberant hotels and luxury resorts he designed in Miami during the 1950s. In the late 1960s he designed a public pool in Brooklyn, where he grew up -a modest and restrained commission compared to those his firm used to undertake. Completed in 1971, Kosciuszko Pool was conceived as a comprehensive leisure facility with swimming, diving, and wading pools; water sculptures; and a playground. Today, many of these features are fenced-off or in need of maintenance. The Olympic-size pool is the only component currently open to the public, during the summer season.

The public-pools research explores the history, form, social, and cultural aspects of the swimming pool as an architectural type. The research is organized as a catalog of the New York City public pools and collection of drawings, photographs, and writings highlighting broader issues related to urban waters. The pool serves as a device to engage specific aspects of public space and architectural invention while revealing the undercurrents of urban policy.

Karolina Częczek is an architect and educator based in New York. She is a principal at Only If— architecture office and a critic at Yale School of Architecture. Her work operates at the intersection of architectural and urban scales. Karolina previously worked at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in Rotterdam and Hong Kong. She holds M.Arch degree in architecture and urban design, from Yale University and the Cracow University of Technology. She is a Fulbright Scholar and registered architect in the Netherlands and Poland.

Anna Morgowicz is a photographer based in New York. She holds an MA in Sociology from the University of Wroclaw, a BFA in photography from the Institute of Creative Photography in Opava, Czech Republic and MPS from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Anna also studied at the International Center of Photography (ICP) and worked at Magnum Photos. In 2019, she created photographic documentation of the Post – War Modern architecture in Wroclaw, for the book “Całe Morze Budowania” written by Dr Agata Gabiś, and published by The Museum of Architecture in Wroclaw, Poland.

About the Exhibition
From MoMA’s website

In a city where many aspects of our social lives are shaped by real estate and economic forces, architecture can play a vital role in fostering participation and belonging. New York, New Publics showcases 12 projects for public-facing spaces across New York City’s five boroughs. In contrast to the violent nature of urban renewal and other disruptive metropolitan initiatives of the past century, recent design approaches propose subtler, nimbler interventions. Considering the city as an ecosystem, these inventive approaches envision a future in which architecture creates more accessible, sustainable, and equitable cities.

This exhibition brings together a wide variety of design proposals, ranging from waterfront parks, networks of public pools, and cultural spaces to local community gardens, subway stations, and virtual monuments for underrepresented populations. They reimagine the uses of civic infrastructure, the sharing of private resources, and the potential for new technologies to create virtual spaces for political engagement. Models, sketches, drawings, and photographs are featured alongside full-scale architectural components, prototypes, and an augmented-reality installation. Each project is accompanied by a newly produced video that provides a glimpse into the daily uses of these architectures.

New York, New Publics features works by Adjaye Associates, Agency–Agency and Chris Woebken, CO Adaptive, James Corner Field Operations, Kinfolk Foundation, nArchitects, New Affiliates and Samuel Stewart-Halevy, Olalekan Jeyifous, Only If, Peterson Rich Office, SO – IL, SWA/Balsley, and Weiss/Manfredi. Their diverse projects imagine new and resilient ways in which communities can thrive.

Organized by Evangelos Kotsioris, Assistant Curator, and Martino Stierli, The Philip Johnson Chief Curator, with Paula Vilaplana de Miguel, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design. New York, New Publics is the inaugural installation of Architecture Now, a new periodic exhibition series that will serve as a platform to highlight emerging talent and foreground groundbreaking projects in contemporary architecture.