The Vessel, the spiral staircase at Hudson Yards on the Far West Side in Manhattan, was closed to visitors on Tuesday, a day after a 21-year-old man jumped into the third suicide in less than a year after his death.
It was unclear when the 150-foot structure, the center of the major development, would reopen to the public. A spokesman for related companies, the developer of Hudson Yards, said the structure was “temporarily closed” and that the firm was consulting on suicide prevention experts, including psychiatrists, on how to limit the potential for more suicides.
The chairman of the local community council said in an interview on Tuesday that a representative of related companies called him on Monday shortly after the suicide and said that the vessel would remain closed “until further notice”.
Council Chairman Lowell Kern also said the developer has indicated that he will take the precautionary steps he plans to take to the board before reopening the statue to visitors.
The closure occurred when police identified the man who killed himself Monday morning as Franklin Washington of San Antonio. His death came weeks after a 24-year-old woman from Brooklyn ended her life by jumping off the Vessel on December 21st.
Last February, a 19-year-old man from New Jersey jumped into the first suicide at the Vessel site, with witnesses describing how they screamed while bystanders realized what had happened.
A Hudson Yards employee who was on the premises Tuesday said he saw the suicide Monday as well as that in December. The area was almost deserted, with only a few tourists taking photos in front of the Vessel and an empty SoulCycle tent nearby.
“I could not sleep last night,” the man said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
The Vessel was designed by Thomas Heatherwick and Heatherwick Studio. The creators describe it as an interactive work of art with 154 mutual steps, nearly 2500 individual steps and 80 landings. Visitors are encouraged to climb it to experience the expansive views of New York and the Hudson River.
The structure was considered a major tourist attraction for Hudson Yards, a $ 25 billion project that is the largest mixed-use private development in U.S. history. After a huge fanfare in 2019, the development faces an uncertain future due to the impact of the pandemic on everything from tourism to office work. It has been largely empty for months.
Visitors and critics expressed concern that the design of the Vessel could pose safety risks. Audrey Wachs, the former co-editor of The Architect’s Newspaper, wrote a critique in 2016: ‘If you climb Vessel, the railings stay just above waist height to the top of the structure, but if you build high , people will jump. ”
The community council first contacted related companies about taking steps to prevent additional suicides in the structure after the first time last year.
“Because the Vessel’s chest-high barrier is all that separates the platform from the edge, the likelihood of a similar, horrific sad loss of life cannot be ignored,” he said. Kern, the chairman of the board, wrote in a letter.
Mr. Kern said Tuesday that the board still believes the best way to ward off further suicide attempts is to increase the height of the barrier.
“It’s the only thing that’s going to work,” he said.
He added that he understands that there is reluctance to change what is considered a work of art, but that it should not be a priority now: ‘At what point does artistic vision take a back seat in safety? after three suicides? ‘
Among large outdoor structures, bridges have traditionally been magnets for people who decide that death is the only option, and at least some bridges have added fences and other obstacles after studies have shown that such measures can be effective.
In the New York area, the George Washington Bridge usually attracted more suicide attempts than other bridges. From 2015 to 2017, there were 15 suicides per year at the bridge.
In 2017, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey tackled the problem by installing an 11-foot-high fence attached to a canopy just across a pedestrian bridge. Information was not immediately available on Tuesday about how effective the fence was.
If you are thinking of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK) or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional sources. Here is what you can do when a loved one is severely depressed.