Plus Pool was designed to both clean the waters of the East River and provide a public space for water-based recreation.

[3][4] Plus Pool was designed to filter up to one million gallons of river water each day through its custom, chemical free, layered filtration system.

He asked Jeffrey Franklin and Archie Lee Coates IV of PlayLab to initially help create a website and booklet to raise support for the project and soon the three decided to be co-founders.

[5][14][15] In July 2013, with the help of a feasibility study by Columbia University, over a quarter million dollars was raised to build a 35-square-foot (3.3 m2) miniature version of the floating pool.

The team created a promotional video for Plus Pool, narrated by Neil Patrick Harris, to revitalize public interest in the project.

Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, Heineken and the Howard Hughes Corporation, the sculpture changes colors based on water conditions.

[27] In 2021, New York City approved a location for Plus Pool just north of the Manhattan Bridge on the Lower East Side.