How do you make a monument stand out in a city teeming with must-see attractions? By making it interactive. The Vessel, which will open in 2018 as the centerpiece of New York City’s new Hudson Yards development, comprises 154 bronzed-steel staircases that rise 15 stories in the air and intersect at 80 landings. The goal is to “lift people up,” designer Thomas Heatherwick has said. He meant it literally: there’s an inclined glass elevator to the top of the beehive-like structure for visitors who aren’t able to climb the nearly 2,500 stairs.
–Julia Zorthian
This appears in the October 03, 2016 issue of TIME.
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