The 150-foot tall climbable sculpture first opened in March 2019 and quickly became a favorite New York tourist attraction. But since then, the Vessel has been closed off and empty since the boy became the fourth person to jump off the sculpture and take his own life on July 29.

“It’s tragic,” said Miranda Sapoznik, a Manhattan resident who visited the Vessel last month. “It’s like seeing a memorial on the side of a road, and knowing someone lost their lives in that very spot. It obviously made me very sad.”

The day that Sapoznik visited the Vessel, it was closed off to the public and no one was able to climb it. It was only a few weeks after the last suicide. Now, the chances of the Vessel ever being able to have visitors scale its steps again seems unlikely, with no reopening date announced  from the Vessel, Hudson Yards or its development companies.

Its architects and stakeholders are at a standstill on how to make the sculpture a safe tourist attraction without taking away from the integrity of the original purpose of the public art piece which was so “people can enjoy new perspectives of the city and one another from different heights, angles and vantage points.”

Many have called for the developer Related Companies to redesign the Vessel in order to make it safer for the public. The primary idea is to raise the glass banisters, which are currently waist-high on an adult, to over eye level.

“The only thing that’s going to work is raising the height of the barriers,” Lowell Kern, the chair of Community Board 4, which represents residents of the area, said to AP. “At this point after four deaths, artistic vision doesn’t matter any more.”

The “artistic vision” Kern mentions is the main reason why Related Companies has not decided to move forward with the redesign and reopening of the Vessel yet. The higher banisters would distort and obstruct the view, which is the main selling point. But, Sapoznik said this simply is not enough to justify not modifying the sculpture.

“Four suicides in just over two years is a lot,” she said. “The Vessel serves no purpose besides looking pretty and giving visitors a nice view from the top. I think many would agree when weighing the pros with the cons, the benefits of reopening when weighed against the cost of another human life lost, do not prevail.”

Although the Vessel tried to reopen after the third suicide with new measures in place — such as implementing a buddy system, placing mental health signs and resources around the sculpture and adding a $10 admission fee — a fourth suicide still happened, making the need for greater protections far more apparent.

“I knew one of the people that jumped off the Vessel,” Mara Chiriac, a Manhattan resident, said. “He was another student, just like me. We all found out through an email from the school and I know myself and many others were devastated when we found out, because none of us had ever really dealt with anything like that and it was someone we all knew.” 

To many people like Chiriac, the Vessel represents the loss of their loved ones. It serves as an ugly reminder of the realities of suicide and the struggle many go through alone. 

“All I can think about is how he got on a train to New York City, and the time and effort it must have taken, and he had time to change his mind,” Chiriac said. “But he didn’t change his mind, he did it.”

While Heatherwick Studios, the architectural designers behind the Vessel, find a way to make the sculpture more structurally secure and safe for future visitors, many other architects have also discussed whether the Vessel should ever be reopened, or even left up as a monument and instead be destroyed. Architectural Record’s editor-in-chief Cathleen McGuigan wrote in an op-ed released shortly after the last tragedy of the Vessel calling for its demolition.

“Not only does the tragedy of four suicides mark the Vessel… but the idea that this gargantuan chunk of shiny, copper-colored steel is a sculptural amenity for the citizens of New York is the biggest folly of all,” she wrote.

 Even if the Vessel is able to change large parts of its physical appearance and improve its safety, its tragic past may affect its future and discourage others from visiting or returning.

“It’s definitely not safe, like I wouldn’t bring kids around it or anything like that,” Chiriac said. “I don’t know if the Vessel should reopen… New York has a lot to think about, and a decision needs to be made, but it needs to be made well and thought about.”

September is National Suicide Prevention Month. If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741, or visit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

The post The future of Vessel is uncertain after suicides haunt the once popular tourist attraction appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

New York blinked and an enchanted pop-up city appeared in a forgotten part of town. 

Complete with cloud-reaching steel and glass high-tech towers, fashionable, smiling people and its very own landmark – a curious burnt-bronze colored, climbable structure called The Vessel – Hudson Yards brims with promise of a glimmering and futuristic way of living.

Its website touts itself as exactly that: “Hudson Yards has become the cultural center of Manhattan’s New West Side…a template for the future of cities..” 

Now the first Christmas season has arrived with its dazzling light shows and invitation to “Shine On at Hudson Yards.”

Broadway actress, Taylor Symone Jackson, 26, was visiting the mall for the first time in December. 

Broadway actress Taylor Symone Jackson hold the playbill for her latest production Ain’t too Proud while visiting Hudson Yards Photo by Karen Carmela Watson

“It’s great, I love it,” she said. “It’s new and beautiful..I love the glass [large windows]. And I love that they have Shake Shack right around the corner [on the 4th floor]. Muji is one of my favorite stores, and then right across the way is Uniqlo. I have never seen a Uniqlo store, I love it. It’s affordable..majority of it is.” 

Perched on a four-block area from 30th to 34th Streets and 10th Avenue in Manhattan’s newly re-zoned and rapidly developing west side, the neighborhood commands a clear view of the Hudson River and the southern tip of the borough. 

Through some architectural wonder, this whole compact, residential and commercial development, sits atop platforms built over an active storage train yard, located in a once neglected and underdeveloped section of New York. 

Unlike Jackson, however, not everyone has a glowing view of this new multi-billion project.

“Hudson Yards is Manhattan’s biggest, newest, slickest, gated community,” one New York Times headline declared when the neighborhood opened in March. 

Another claimed that its many high-end stores and luxury condominiums would exclude many from becoming a part of the community.

Some architects and economists said the building designs were uninspired, that New Yorkers would not travel across town to shop in a fancy, upscale mall with mostly designer brands and celebrity-chef restaurants.

But the numbers say otherwise.

Eight months into its grand opening, New Yorkers and tourists alike have poured into Hudson Yards in numbers that exceed the expectations of supporters and critics alike.

According to a recent CNBC article, the mall expects to welcome over 20 million visitors by the end of its first year, with about half of their business being generated from Manhattan shoppers alone. 

On the first floor at the Shops and Restaurant at Hudson Yards,  Rolex employee, Stephen Michael Gardner, 61, said the store was really busy, with sometimes up to 400 shoppers a day. 

“I have been working here since August,” he said. “I love it here, it’s a wonderful place to be in, the people are nice. It’s busier than usual for the holidays, believe me, there’s lots of people in and out of the store.”

 With the Christmas season in full flow, the signs and sounds of the holiday are everywhere.

On entering the 28-acre space, especially after 5 p.m. when the light show goes on,  one is greeted by loud holiday music, small trees draped in red and purple lights scattered around the courtyard, a glimpse of a quilted-looking, glowing structure in the background called The Shed, and the public square’s centerpiece: the Vessel. The shiny, other-wordly, artistic creation, rising 16-stories-high, surrounded by tall, glowing buildings and tourists turning in circles with phones held high, trying to capture the tips of the towers.

Immediately next to the busy stair-climbing, selfie-occupied Vessel is a huge, star-shaped, overhead holiday installation sparkling with 12,000 LED lights, taking its cue and theme from the constellation Lyra after which it was named. 

The lyra changes colors and patterns continuously as holiday and classical music pour out and draw people in to look up at the dramatic display, exclaim, point, spin in circles to the music and patterns, while taking more pictures. In the cold.

Adrian Ramos is a greeter at Hudson Yards. Photo by Karen Carmela Watson

At the entrance to the The Shops, standing under two indoor lyras doing their dazzling,  holiday routine, a smiling greeter, Adrian Ramos, welcomed visitors.

“There are a lot of tourists coming in,” he said. “A lot more have been coming since the holidays..it gets hectic, a little bit crazy.”

While some critics would probably cringe on hearing “affordable and Hudson Yards” mentioned in the same sentence as Jackson did, an exploration of the shops –  many with large holiday discounts advertised – and restaurants does show a mixed-priced range of shopping and dining experiences. 

On the third floor, H&M was doing brisk business for the holiday, while across the hall, Zara had a line of customers waiting to check-out their items. Madewell, on the second floor, had holiday discounts on many clothing items. 

Neiman Marcus with its elaborate, interactive Christmas window and entrance display, along with an in-house DJ entertaining shoppers, had a mix of expected high-end items but also some small gift items priced under $50.

“I never even heard of Dior before I came here,” Ramos, 21, a Bronx resident said, turning to the store. “I did feel that everything was out of range at first but there is something for everyone.”

In addition to the decorations in most of the 100 storefronts, the ever present sound of Christmas carols follow shoppers from the courtyard throughout the seven floors of the shopping complex.

Walking in the hallway just outside Zara, Liana Kardaras, 18, was visiting with her friends from New Jersey.  She said she was not focused on the decorations.

“I haven’t actually paid much attention to the Christmas decorations,” she said. “It’s more so the Christmas music in here that I enjoy.”

Every Tuesday and Saturday until January 5, the area in front of Dior on the main floor, and other designated areas on the upper floors, become the venue of extravagant holiday activities in celebration of the neighborhood’s first Christmas.

All open to the public, performances have so far included the Elan Artists’ dancers doing their toy soldiers routine, The Brooklyn Ballet, The New York City Gospel Choir and several ensembles playing classical and holiday music on various instruments.

Toy Soldiers Dance at Hudson Yards from Pavement Pieces on Vimeo.

For families with children, cookie decorating, an upcoming breakfast with Santa event and interactive wall art keep them intrigued.

William Chan, 40, visiting with his family from Toronto, Canada, sat on the floor next to his sister and another family member as his children “draw” on an interactive wall exhibit called Off the Wall.

“We checked out the Vessel which was pretty cool and it was right around when it was getting dark so we got some good lights as well,” he said. “Now we are just walking around and the kids seem to like this wall of sequins where they could draw.”

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