McCarren Pool, located within the 35-acre McCarren Park, was one of 11 pools opened by Robert Moses in 1936. The pool closed in 1984 and sat unused until the summer of 2005 when the empty basin was repurposed as a popular venue for outdoor events. With $50 million in funding from PlaNYC, McCarren Pool was rebuilt and re-opened as a year-round community recreation center in 2012.

Recognized with the 2013 MASterworks award for Best Restoration by the Municipal Arts Society of New York, the project preserves the historic bathhouse building and entry arch while modernizing the facilities for current users. The existing swimming pool was repaired and reconfigured to incorporate a central peninsula beach area/ice-skating platform. The restored LEED-Silver certified bathhouse contains a gymnasium and workout spaces, rooms for children’s programs and senior activities, and adjacent outdoor lockers.

The engineering challenge was to introduce a state-of-the-art environmental system while maintaining the original open structure and high spaces. Collado designed a low temperature heat-pump system with gas burning condensing boilers, and an indoor cooling tower located at the opposite end of the site from the bathhouse. New equipment was located in the cellar and in new equipment rooms carved out of existing crawl space, with ductwork routed through the remaining crawl spaces. Demand side ventilation was incorporated to reduce operating costs.