The enabled pool is a public pool for people in wheelchairs. Rather than tools that are designed to help, wheelchairs become signs of disabilities. It is mentally harmful to feel outside the ‘norm’. In water, the alternative abled don’t have to rely on any supportive device to assist them, they can be free of their wheelchairs. Rather than a hidden gathering space, the enabled pool is placed at an open space. In this case, everyone will get to know that what is considered ‘normal’ is simply a variation of life.
The architecture wraps the spaces in layers of screening materials, filtering sunlight while mitigating the view from the outside in. Circulation ramps spiral up and around the edge of the pool, small gathering pods are arranged near the ramps, multiplying the interactions vertically, so that people can see each other and cultivate a more nuanced dimension of public.
