PHOTO: A rendering of the proposal.

A stream in the North Woods of Central Park comes to a screeching halt at the Lasker Rink and Pool, which were built in 1966.

A project to restore the park's North End will change that, replacing the outdated building and allowing the water to once again flow freely into the Harlem Meer as it once did, not diverted into a culvert behind the building.     

"Our project really on the East Side will be framed by a reconstructed watercourse, which will allow the water to flow over land," said Christopher Nolan, chief landscape architect with the Central Park Conservancy. "In doing that, you provide space for the pedestrian paths, you are reconnecting the pedestrian connections and allow people kind of move in and around the facility,"    

It's the largest project in the Central Park Conservancy's 40 years mananging the park. Lasker Rink and Pool will be demolished to make way for a new place for folks to swim and skate...difference is, this is designed to blend into the landscape, unlike Lasker, which kind of sticks out like a sore thumb.    

"Currently, the pool is elevated above the ground, so it really makes the building even larger. So we will be pushing the pool down so by doing the landscape really dominates," said architect Susan Rodriguez.   

The project will get visitors closer to nature with a boardwalk traversing a fresh water marsh and wrapping around small islands in the Harlem meer. Imagine skating on the boardwalk in winter months on synthetic ice.

It's a project that keeps active recreation intact, but improves access to the Meer.      

"Swimming will be there. Ice skating will be there, Hockey will be there. And the beautiful thing about it is, it won't interupt the landscape. It's going to blend right in," said Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver.

"We have been working in the park for 40 years, and this project, which is our largest and most complicated and really most beautiful project, so we are very, very proud of it," said Elizabeth Smith, president and CEO of the Central Park Conservancy.

The Central Park Conservancy hopes to break ground on the project in 2021, with expected completion by 2024.