engineering

Vessel (structure)

Vessel (structure) is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Vessel (structure) rather than just read about it. In short: Vessel is a 16-story, 150-foot-tall (46 m) structure of connected staircases in the 5-acre (2.0 ha) Hudson Yards Public Square of Hudson Yards in Manhattan, New York City. Designed by Thomas Heatherwick, the elaborate honeycomb-like structure consists of 154 flights of stairs, 2,500 steps, and 80 landings for visitors to climb.

Key takeaways

Vessel (structure) belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Vessel (structure) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Vessel (structure) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Vessel is a 16-story, 150-foot-tall (46 m) structure of connected staircases in the 5-acre (2.0 ha) Hudson Yards Public Square of Hudson Yards in Manhattan, New York City. Designed by Thomas Heatherwick, the elaborate honeycomb-like structure consists of 154 flights of stairs, 2,500 steps, and 80 landings for visitors to climb. Funded by Hudson Yards developer Related Companies, its final cost was estimated at $200 million. The concept of Vessel was publicly presented on September 14, 2016, with construction starting in April 2017, its pieces manufactured in Italy and shipped to the United States. Vessel topped out in December 2017 with the installation of its highest piece, and opened to the public on March 15, 2019. At the time of its opening, Vessel was noted for its sensitive siting within Hudson Yards with points of criticism focusing on its overall extravagance, restrictive copyright photography policy and lack of full accessibility, the latter two issues subsequently resolved. In response to suicides at the Vessel and installations initially of netting and later glass barriers, the venue underwent a series of closings and reopenings, beginning with a closure January 2021, then an indefinite closing, a reopening in May 2021, and indefinite closure two months later — and a reopening in October 2024 following the installation of glass safety barriers.

Description

Structure

Vessel is a 16-story, 150-foot-tall (46 m) structure of connected staircases among the buildings of Hudson Yards, located in the 5-acre (2.0 ha) Hudson Yards Public Square. Designed by Thomas Heatherwick, Vessel has 154 flights, 2,500 steps, and 80 landings, with the total length of the stairs exceeding 1 mile (1.6 km). The copper-clad steps, arranged like a jungle gym and modeled after Indian stepwells, can hold 1,000 people at a time. The structure also has ramps and an elevator to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), though only three of Vessel's landings are ADA-accessible as of 2019. Vessel is 50 feet (15 m) wide at its base, expanding to 150 feet (46 m) at the apex. Stephen Ross, the CEO of Hudson Yards' developer Related Companies, said that its unusual shape was intended to make the structure stand out like a "12-month Christmas tree". Heatherwick said that he intends visitors to climb and explore the structure as if it were a jungle gym. At the top of the structure, visitors can see the Hudson River.

Site Vessel is located in Hudson Yards Public Square, landscape design for which was carried out by Thomas Woltz of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects. The 5-acre (2 ha) space hosts 28,000 plants and 225 trees in total. A canopy of trees is located in the southern area of the plaza. The southeast entrance to the plaza also includes a fountain. A "seasonally expressive" garden stands across from Vessel outside the entrance to the New York City Subway's 34th Street–Hudson Yards station. The plaza is also connected to the High Line, an elevated promenade that extends south of Hudson Yards.

Cost and assembly Although Vessel had originally been slated to cost $75 million, the projections were later revised to between $150 and $200 million. Heatherwick attributed the greatly increased price tag to the complexity of building the steel pieces. The structural steel components were assembled in the comune of Monfalcone in Italy, transported by ship, and off-loaded via docks on the Hudson River.

Name "Vessel" was planned to be the structure's temporary name during construction, with a permanent name to be determined later. After Vessel opened, Hudson Yards asked the public to give it a formal name, creating a website devoted to that effect.

History

In an interview with Fortune magazine, Ross said that he "wanted to commission something transformational, monumental", which led to the concept for Vessel. Ross looked to five unnamed artists, renowned for designing similar plazas, and requested in-depth proposals. After rejecting the plans, a colleague introduced Ross to Heatherwick. Six weeks later Ross accepted Heatherwick's proposal because it "had everything I wanted". In an interview with designboom, Heatherwick said his design came from a childhood experience of falling "in love with an old discarded flight of wooden stairs outside a local building site". Heatherwick's commissioning was reported in October 2013. The concept of Vessel was presented to the public on September 14, 2016, in an event attended by hundreds of people including New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Hosted by Anderson Cooper, the event featured a performance from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater that evoked the interlocking design of Vessel's staircases. In April 2017, the first major piece of the sculpture was installed at Hudson Yards. Construction started on April 18 with the installation of the first 10 pieces of the 75-piece structure. It was projected for completion in the spring of 2019, with the other 65 pieces arriving in five batches. The structure topped out in December 2017. In October 2018, it was announced that the opening of Vessel had been scheduled for March 15, 2019, and that tickets to enter the structure would become available in February. By January 2019, Hudson Yards officials were soliciting public suggestions for a rename of Vessel. Though the structure had no official name, the Hudson Yards website called it the "Hudson Yards Staircase". Vessel opened as scheduled on March 15, 2019. Hudson Yards initially claimed to own any photo taken of Vessel. This drew criticism, not least because the developers had been given $4.5 billion of public money, and Hudson Yards quickly stopped claiming to own others' photos of Vessel. Starting in 2025, Vessel was illuminated at night during the winter holiday season.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Vessel (structure)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Vessel (structure) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Vessel (structure) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Vessel (structure) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Vessel (structure)

In research: Vessel (structure) appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Vessel (structure) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Vessel (structure) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2010s in Manhattan, 2019 establishments in New York City, Buildings and structures completed in 2019, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Vessel (structure) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Vessel (structure) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Vessel (structure) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Vessel (structure) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Vessel (structure) in simple terms?

Why does Vessel (structure) matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Vessel (structure)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Vessel (structure).