Visitors can walk up Blood vesselThomas Heatherwick’s shimmering sculpture will go on display in Hudson Yards later this year after multiple suicides in 2021 led to the closure of public access.
New “cut-resistant” steel mesh barriers will be installed on several of the sculpture’s stairs and platforms, and the top floor will be off-limits to visitors. Associated Press, first reported the news. Several suicides forced the 150-foot-tall building to close.
A spokesperson for Related Companies, which owns Hudson Yards, did not confirm when the building would reopen, but told the outlet Associated Press “The developers look forward to welcoming visitors back later this year.”
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The 16-story copper sculpture, which has been repeatedly compared to shawarma, originally had a budget of $75 million, which later reportedly ballooned to $200 million “plus some landscaping.”
It was originally designed with 154 flights of stairs and 80 platforms to create a sense of fatigue among visitors. New YorkerIan Parker in 2018.
As art critic Andrew Russeth described it earlier this year, “It looks alien, slightly sinister, like a digital creation clicked and dragged from a computer screen into real life. It Hollow in its celebration of dizzying capital and personal ambition, even though it closed to visitors shortly afterwards, in May 2021, it must rank as one of the country’s iconic architectural projects – Iconic Love One of the works of art.
Heatherwick’s design was also found to be inappropriate for people with disabilities, violating the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
Despite this omission and a plethora of nicknames, the sculpture quickly became a centerpiece of the Hudson Yards development and a popular tourist attraction.
But in less than a year, three people jumped to their deaths from the building, and in early 2021, the ship was no longer open to the public. Security measures were in place and a ban was enforced to walk up the steps alone. Another closure occurred two months later when a teenager jumped to his death while visiting the sculpture with his family.
Manhattan Community Council President Jessica Chait praised the sculpture changes but told Associated Press They were suggested a long time ago.
“While we believe it took too many of the lives of the four people involved to make these physical adjustments, these are the changes we are requesting, which will prioritize the safety of everyone who visits the ship,” she said.
