Anderson Cooper and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio Attend Thomas Heatherwick Unveiling

With its vast Hudson Yards development on the west side of Manhattan, the Related Companies has promised not only new buildings but a new neighborhood. Yet the size of the project (whose central tower is taller than the Empire State Building) and its placement over an accordion of railroad tracks could make the neighborhood feel elusive. That’s why Steve Ross, the chairman of Related, traveled the world looking for a way to bring the development down to human scale. He eventually chose Thomas Heatherwick, the London-based designer , to create a centerpiece for Hudson Yards—one that would sit in the middle of a public space as big as Trafalgar Square.

“That’s a lot of responsibility,” said Heatherwick, a soft-spoken Brit, before today’s unveiling of his design: a basket-shaped tower made of 250 interlocking stairways in a configuration worthy of M. C. Escher. Nearly 16 stories tall, the structure will dominate a five-acre public square designed by landscape architect Thomas Woltz of Nelson Byrd Woltz. Heatherwick said he envisioned fitness-obsessed New Yorkers running up and down the stairs at 6:00 a and others taking their time exploring “an infinite number of routes.” The tower, which is being fabricated in Italy at an estimated cost of $150 million, will be able to accommodate up to 1,000 people at once. It’s been christened Vessel —“at least until someone comes up with a better, funnier, New Yorkier name,” Heatherwick said. At an unveiling ceremony this morning in Manhattan, emceed by Anderson Cooper and attended by New York mayor Bill de Blasio, Ross said, “Everyone who comes to New York visits the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. We were looking for a 365-day Christmas tree.”

A rendering from the upper level of Heatherwick’s Vessel.

A view of the interior, this rendering shows how the staircases intertwine throughout the structure.