Former BED student leads NYC pool design-build project

Jayme Elterman ‘03, a former Texas A&M environmental design student, is project manager of a group of fellow students at a graduate design school in New York City who will soon begin building Splash House, a new locker and changing room for swimmers at a city pool, after designing and holding a successful fundraising campaign for the project.

Last summer, due to a substantial increase in patronage of the Highbridge Pool and Recreation Center in New York City’s densely populated Washington Heights community, swimmers were forced to use the facility’s indoor recreation space as a locker room, explained Elterman, a student at Parsons The New School for Design.

“By constructing Splash House,” says the student design team’s Kickstarter.com fundraising appeal, “we’ll be freeing up indoor recreation space year-round in the community center, where abundant youth activities are key to the many children who live in the neighborhood.”

Elterman, who’s been involved in the project since its inception, helped shepherd the design’s approval through the city’s regulatory process.

“This has included generating drawings, models and various presentations,” she said. “I've attended all client meetings and presented to the community board. I have been involved in all communications as well as project scope, budget and schedule.”

After winning design approval from the city, the students, who plan to construct the Splash House this summer, reached their $15,000 fundraising goal with help from more than 200 Kickstart backers.

To view renderings of Splash House and learn more about the project, visit the project’s [Kickstarter.com] (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/777690743/splash-house) webpage.