A 'Pop-Up Pool' comes to Francisville

What used to be a bare pool deck at Francisville Playground in North Philadelphia was reminiscent Wednesday of a small beach scene: Neighborhood children splashed in the water, and their parents lounged alongside palm trees, umbrellas, and an elevated seating area that looked something like a boardwalk.

Just last week, a group of designers, urban planners, and city officials had transformed the public pool's facade.

Using funds from a $297,000 grant from the Miami-based Knight Foundation, local urban planner Ben Bryant and his team brought in greenery and seating areas to redesign the space, dubbing it the "Pop-Up Pool" project.

Near the basketball court by the pool, they set up wooden patio tables, wicker chairs with colorful cushions, an oversize checkerboard, and lounge chairs.

"I love everything about it," said Cherell Drinks, 37, who grew up in Francisville. "It's relaxing and more welcoming."

City officials celebrated the project's launch Wednesday as neighborhood children crowded around, eager to jump back into the water on the sunny afternoon, and a band played in the background.

The scene spoke to the project's simple goal: Draw attention to local pools and make them more comfortable for people in the neighborhood.

The Francisville pool's changes, Bryant said, aim to offer families more places to congregate outside the water.

"I hope it becomes a little bit more of a civic space . . . and is a space in the summertime that really brings the neighborhood together," Bryant said.

Michael DiBerardinis, deputy mayor for environmental and community resources, said the Francisville project is prompting officials to rethink how to make the city's 70 pools as attractive a destination for parents as for their children.

"It's helped us look at our pools in a new way," DiBerardinis said. "We want to use this to reconsider what we're doing at our pools, particularly how we become more family-friendly and more adult-friendly."

Declaring that there is "nothing like water in a swimming pool," Mayor Nutter said officials hope to expand the project and replicate the improvements at other pools.

Bryant said he would eventually like to see a neighborhood pool organize a similar project of its own. Basic changes to a pool's facade can make it that much easier to enjoy, he said.

"The pools are very neighborhood-based entities," Bryant said.

The project, he said, is "not meant to be the kind of thing that can only be supported by a million-dollar grant."

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@MadelineRConway