Climbable sculpture in Hudson Yards in Manhattan closed in 2021 after four people died by suicide
The Vessel, the huge climbable centerpiece of New York’s upmarket Hudson Yards development that saw a number of suicides, is set to reopen later this year with new safety features, according to developers.
The 150ft sculpture, designed by Thomas Heatherwick and built at a cost of $260m, was closed three years ago after four people jumped to their deaths. Besides overall criticism of its design – including descriptions of it as a giant gold shish-kebab rotisserie – the construction was grimly described to the Guardian as “staircase to nowhere”.
Before its closure, Related Companies, the company that controls Hudson Yards, imposed a $10 entrance fee and a rule requiring that visitors do not climb the structure alone. But that plan proved unsuccessful when a 14-year-old boy jumped in front his family.
God there’s so much. To start with, the Hudson yards project got greenlit because the developer agreed to build some amount of affordable housing, but they never did it, and were never held accountable for not doing it.
And the suicides aren’t some freak unexpected thing, the developer was strongly warned that it definitely WAS going to cause suicides, and that they should make some changes to the design to prevent it, but the developers wanted it to look the way they wanted and didn’t give a fuck about anyone dying.
And lots more awful shit. The whole place is a scourge on new york
Thanks, bitch-ass Bloomberg.