Hudson Yards debuts public art Vessel by Thomas Heatherwick

ART

HUDSON YARDS: A NEW MECCA FOR ART

WORDS

by ROBYN TURK

PHOTOGRAPHY

COURTESY of RELATED/OXFORD

The latest New York landmark has made its debut. Set alongside the river up which Henry Hudson sailed when discovering New York, Hudson Yards represents the quintessence of the city - past, present and future. Hudson Yards is much more than a shopping center, even more than a shopping district. It is a neighborhood that brings together contemporary art, culture and lifestyle for New Yorkers and visitors alike.

While each of New York City’s celebrated neighborhoods acquired their own flavors throughout history, retail developer Related has designed Hudson Yards with its unique purpose and personality integrated into every element.

In addition to its shopping and dining offerings, the neighborhood is home to four luxury residences, four office buildings, a hotel, public square and two centers for art. The soon-to-open art centers, The Shed and Snark Park, will host a variety of contemporary exhibitions or performances and immersive installations, respectively.

Yet the celebration of contemporary culture expands beyond The Shed and Snark Park. Values of art and curation have been instilled into every element that makes up Hudson Yards; everyone who visits - whether to shop, stay, play, dine, reside or work - experiences life in a precious manner.

At the heart of Hudson Yards is Vessel - a 150-foot tall work of interactive, public art made by Thomas Heatherwick and Heatherwick Studio. The honeycomb-shaped sculpture is made from 154 interconnected staircases that accounts for almost 2,500 individual steps and 80 landings, costing $200 million to create. As the neighborhood’s centerpiece, Vessel brings together the principle of aesthetics with experiential significance. More than an artwork meant simply to be admired, the sculpture is intended to be climbed by its visitors.

Thomas Heatherwick created Vessel for Hudson Yards

Vessel by Thomas Heatherwick and Heatherwick Studios

"I knew that the space called for a celebratory and playful arrangement of color and form that would endlessly reconfigure as one moved in and through the space."

Vessel is predicted to become New York’s newest landmark, attracting visitors to it just as the Empire State or Chrysler Buildings. It is open daily for guests to book a free timed ticket to access and make the vertical climb, snapping Instagram-worthy shots of Hudson Yards and the rest of the city on the way up. There is an elevator for those unable to make the almost one-mile climb. Tickets can be booked online up to two weeks ahead of time.

Overlooking the Vessel are the skyscrapers housing the neighborhood’s residences and offices - three of which are home to Hudson Yards’ signature artworks. Mixed media artist best known for his contributions to minimalism and post-painterly abstraction Frank Stella created a pair of abstract sculptures for the office building located at 50 Hudson Yards.

Stella, who began creating large-form public sculptures during the 1990s, used painted steel, aluminum and fiberglass to build his two unnamed pieces, put together through digital modeling and contemplating the way changes in scale, texture and color can impact a viewer’s experience with an object. “Hudson Yards is a truly unique experience because it gives artists the ability to design monumental pieces for millions of New Yorkers and visitors to enjoy every day,” Stella said of his new work.

Just south of 34th street from Frank Stella’s work sits 30 Hudson Yards, a 90-story commercial and retail tower for which Spanish artist Jaume Plensa created Voices. Made from 11 steel orbs of various sizes, Voices is Plensa’s largest suspended piece yet. The orbs seem to float above the building’s lobby, exploring notions of global unity and an appreciation for diversity within culture. “The eleven spheres that make up Voices are composed of letters from eight different alphabets, to inspire people with the idea that while we come from many places and many cultures, we are here as one community,” the artist shared.

Vessel by Thomas Heatherwick and Heatherwick Studios

And finally, minimalist sculptor Joel Shapiro was commissioned to create a work for 15 Hudson Yards, a residential building set diagonally across the Hudson Yards public square from 30 Voices. Shapiro created a suspended series of painted wood pieces for the building’s lobby, intended to examine thoughts within space, without constraints from architecture.

“After seeing 15 Hudson Yards, I knew that the space called for a celebratory and playful arrangement of color and form that would endlessly reconfigure as one moved in and through the space,” Shapiro said. “Playing off of the elegance and refinement of materials in the lobby, I built a structure with five elements with infinite points of view that I hope is totally exciting and effervescent.”

Hudson Yards has all of the elements a New York City neighborhood needs to survive, from businesses to homes. Yet the element that gives Hudson Yards life, its unique advantage from its contemporaries, is its art. With art centers connecting visitors to works, public sculptures bringing zest to the lobbies of skyscrapers and Vessel tying the neighborhood together, Hudson Yards is a destination for experiencing life.

Vessel by Thomas Heatherwick