Vessel

This guide to Vessel, the copper-clad staircase sculpture at Hudson Yards, moves between Thomas Heatherwick's design for a shared climbing experience modeled on ancient Indian stepwells and the string of deaths that repeatedly closed it after it opened in 2019. You'll hear about the rules added after each closure, from banning solo visitors to a ten-dollar admission fee, and what changed physically about the structure afterward. It follows the debate over what a public structure owes the people who climb it.