The concrete and steel structure, which looks like an inverted honeycomb, will stand in a 5-acre public plaza on Manhattan’s west side.
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Rather than being a static public installation that can be enjoyed only at a remove, Vessel is meant to be an interactive, participatory part of the urban landscape. With 80 landings, 154 interconnecting flights of stairs and almost 2,500 individual steps, the structure was created to not only bring people towards it, but on it as well.
In total, the sculpture will offer over a mile of pathways.
Vessel, the Heatherwick Studio-designed structure that will rise 150 feet over 30th Street in Hudson Yards’ public square, was revealed today at a press conference on the West Side. It is constructed of a structural painted steel frame, its underside surfaces covered by a polished copper-colored steel skin.
The London-based architect of the piece, Thomas Heatherwick, said “it will act as a new free stage set for the city and form a new public gathering place for New Yorkers and visitors”. We wanted to create something that people could relate to and participate in.
“When I was a student, I fell in love with an old discarded flight of wooden stairs outside a local building site”. “I love the fact that people can walk up and down”. “You could climb up stairs, jump on them, dance on them, get exhausted on them and then plonk yourself down on them”. We wondered whether it could be built entirely from steps and landings?
The bronzed-steel and concrete sections of the sculpture are now being fabricated in Italy, and the piece is expected to open to the public sometime in 2018.
Thomas Heatherwick, the designer of the “Vessel” sculpture, visits Hudson Yards, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016 in NY. “New Yorkers have a fitness thing”, he said. It embodies our city’s energy, activity and movement.
Kelsey E. Thomas is Next City’s assistant editor. “You can’t be small in NY”. We thank Stephen Ross for his dedication to our city’s public realm. The structure will be “a viewing gallery of all the spaces around us”.
Despite the name “Public Square”, Hudson Yards is a private development, and “Vessel” was commissioned and approved by a committee of one: Ross, who has kept the design models in a locked cabinet in the Related offices when not allowing brief peeks to lure commercial tenants. Visitors entering from the north will be greeted by a seasonally expressive Entry Garden, while the southern edge will offer a dense canopy of native trees including Nyssa sylvatica, commonly known as black tupelo, or blackgum, in a Pavilion Grove, creating the flawless place for lunchtime gatherings or evening meals. It’s called “Vessel”, and it could steal some thunder from its neighboring High Line.
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The public square where “Vessel” will sit is planned as an outdoor venue for performances and art exhibits, with landscaping that includes 28,000 plants, including more than 200 trees.
