Kickstarter Tech Project of the Week: +POOL

Project name: +POOL, Tile by Tile
Category: Design
Goal: $250,000
Currently funded: $114,013
Deadline for pledging: July 12, 2013

If you've ever walked along the banks of the Hudson or East River in New York City, you can probably tell by the smell alone that you'd never, ever want to jump in. (People that do can look forward to a full-body rash thanks to the toxic pollution in the river.)

Now, picture a beautiful day with Manhattan's skyscrapers as the backdrop, and floating on the East River is a pool full of crystal clear water just waiting for you to yell "CANNONBALLL!" Sound impossible? Yep. But the three guys behind the planned +POOL have been working on this idea for three years. It involves constant meetings with the city and engineers to create what would essentially be a giant water filter floating in the East River. But it's a filter you can walk on and swim in as it strains up to 694,000 gallons of water every day. The liquid that makes it to the swimming area is clean river water—no bacteria, no contaminants, no frankenfish—perfect for a swim.

The pool itself would only be about five feet deep, but a full 164 feet long and wide, with four "arms" that are 32 feet wide, equal to four swimming lanes. It'll be tethered to the river bed so it doesn't float off into the Atlantic. The pool itself only holds 285,000 gallons and the water in the pool will be fully replaced about 2.4 times a day; they figure about every six hours in the kiddie section. The deck around the pool will be eight feet wide.

But that's all in the future. Right now the team needs to build a 35-square-foot test pool called the Float Lab that will be tested at different parts of the river to see if the idea can, uh, hold water. If it works, they'll get back to designing and building the full +POOL in time for a hopeful 2016 opening.

How can you help with this bold experiment? Buy a tile. The final +POOL will consist of 70,000 tiles on the deck, floor, and walls so if every tile gets backed it'll result in $15 million in construction money.

So far more than 940 tiles have been pledged on Kickstarter with 21 days to go. For $25 you can get your name engraved on a group tile, for $199 you can enjoy a tile to yourself and two tickets to the backer-only preview week, or for $249 get a limited edition Blue Tile. The first 5,000 backers who pledge more than $49 get passes to be the first to take a dip in +POOL.

Interested in backing other neat tech projects? Check out The Buccaneer, an affordable 3D printer, or SONTE, a Wi-Fi-enabled smart film that changes your window's transparency.