PS 70 is an elementary school located next to the gritty six-lane Cross Bronx Expressway, which, although it was completed in 1963, had been begun by Robert Moses in 1948. This expressway was the first to cut directly through a dense urban context.

The school building was designed by C.B.J. Snyder in 1925 and contained a swimming pool in the interior of the classic U-shaped plan. The pool facility had fallen into a state of extreme deterioration and required complete structural, mechanical and architectural redesign.

The purpose of the design is to create a space of physical education where the epidemic of childhood obesity can be best addressed. 25% of children under 19 are currently overweight or obese in the United States, putting them at elevated risk for Type II diabetes, high blood pressure and numerous other health risks. The rate of increase in childhood obesity has tripled in the last twenty years, and is greatest among minority populations such as those of the South Bronx where PS 70 is located.

The northern wing of the building fortunately shields the courtyard from the noise of the Expressway, and so the pool could be imagined at a sanctuary from the urban congestion of the South Bronx, a unique place within the school and the lives of its students where the body could be allowed a respite from the deprivations or misunderstood indulgences of underprivileged urban childhood.

The pool is lit from above by a rectangular skylight and contains a three-lane pool with complete handicap access. New girls and boys locker rooms are located to either side. The vertical dimension connects the elements of light and water, while the decks surrounding the pool are connected horizontally by tile stripes of varying width and color.

The aim is to create a facility that encourages and supports exercise and education, but also encourages the possibility of reflection: reflection on the continuity of life, on the nature of water and light, on the physicality of the body, and on the nature of mobility and change.