Meet Joshua David, Co-Founder of High Line

When we launched the idea, we made a few materials to send out to people that we thought would be able to give us some good advice. At the very top of the list was Joshua David, co-founder of Friends of The High Line, the organization responsible for making the High Line happen. In terms of initiating large-scale public projects without a client or funding, The High Line was pretty much + POOL’s biggest precedent.

Josh got our zine in the mail, called us in, and told us two things: 1. That the vision for + POOL was incredible, and that we had beautifully illustrated how much better New York would be because of it, and 2. That it would take 10+ years, and he basically alluded to the fact that it would be so tough that we might not want to go down that long road.

We were incredibly young and naive at the time, and we said “screw it, we’ve gotta do it. (Seriously, how could it take 10 years?)” Boy, was Josh right. Thankfully, he joined Friends of + POOL’s board of directors in 2015, and with his experience, guidance, and patience, + POOL is happening.