The Vessel in NYC’s Hudson Yards reopens with safety netting 3 years after spate of suicides. But is it any better?

The massive honeycomb structure known as the Vessel in New York City’s Hudson Yards reopened Monday with newly installed safety netting more than three years after a spate of suicides led to its ignominious closure.

The massive honeycomb structure known as the Vessel in New York City’s Hudson Yards reopened Monday with newly installed safety netting more than three years after a spate of suicides led to its ignominious closure. The reopening represents a fresh attempt to establish the climbable, 150-foot-tall structure as the Instagrammable centerpiece of Hudson Yards, the largest development in Manhattan since Rockefeller Center. The addition of safety netting, though, is a recognition that the structure opened in March 2019 with major flaws and that early warnings about its low barriers and lack of netting were ignored. “We were able to figure out a solution that I think balances all the aesthetic concerns of making sure people can see and also provide that safety to all of the customers coming in,” Hudson Yards COO Andrew Rosen said, according to CNN affiliate WABC. Heatherwick Studio, which designed the Vessel, said it was “pleased” the structure is reopening. “We hope that it will continue to deliver the experience we originally envisioned – as a unique place for exploration and a one-of-a-kind take on the city of New York,” a spokesperson for the studio said in an email. Two architecture critics told CNN the netting appears to address functional safety concerns about people jumping. But they say the Vessel remains gaudy and ungainly.