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.
Imagine creating a 150 foot climbable statue, everyone roasts it for being pointless and ugly, and when it finally opens you discover you’ve just built a suicide tower.
That actually sounds like it’s precisely the point of the art.
The rat maze leads nowhere, you climb a tower with no purpose, only to reach the top, and then die.
Seems pretty utilitarian and on the nose. A suicide rollercoaster would’ve taken more physical land/real-estate.