X marks the spot for this floating LED sculpture on Manhattan’s East River, which changes colour based on the quality of the water.

Conceived by studios PlayLab Inc and Family New York with Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Floating Point, the plus sign-shaped platform measures 50 ft by 50 ft and is rimmed by LED lights and sensors.

+ Pool Light, as the project is dubbed, collects real-time data from the river that is relayed to an online dashboard designed by Reaktor. This that tells the public whether the water conditions are fit for swimming and whether there are harmful levels of toxins, pathogens and salinity present.

Reaktor also powers the LEDs, which turn pink when the water is unsafe to enter, and teal when enterococci bacteria levels are acceptable.

The lighting installation is at New York’s Seaport District until 4 January 2020 and is part of an ongoing project by PlayLab and Family New York to install a self-filtering, floating pool on Manhattan River.

Organic architecture is taken to the extreme in Eindhoven with this mushroom pavilion