He described his proposal as a huge climbing frame with 600 tonnes, 154 individual flights of stairs, 80 landings, and with 2,400 steps.
The structure is the centrepiece of a €178 million, 09 Ha redevelopment of the city’s Hudson Yards – an industrial area in the west of Manhattan, encircled by the High Line walkway.
Currently under construction in Monfalcone, Italy, the bronzed-steel and concrete pieces that make up what Mr Heatherwick has dubbed “Vessel” will not be assembled on site until next year – but were displayed at a glitzy launch in New York on Wednesday, attended by Bill de Blasio, mayor of New York.
Description of project by Heatherwick Studio
On 14 September 2016 Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group announced Heatherwick Studio’s design of Vessel, a new public landmark for the Hudson Yards development in Manhattan.
Due for completion in Autumn 2018, Vessel has been commissioned as the centrepiece for the largest development in New York City since the Rockefeller Center. Rather than just be something to look at, Heatherwick Studio‘s design undertook the challenge of creating a landmark every inch of which could be climbed and explored. Vessel will lift the public up, offering new ways to look at New York, Hudson Yards and each other.
Its 154 interconnecting flights of stairs, 2,400 steps and 80 landings will create a mile’s worth of pathway rising up above the public plaza. It will stand 150 feet tall, with a diameter of 50 feet at its base, widening to 150 feet at its top. Currently in fabrication in Italy, it is constructed of a structural painted steel frame with its underside surfaces covered by a polished copper-coloured steel skin.
