A comment on "The Vessel Has Closed Again After a Fourth Suicide" (NY Magazine).
You know The Vessel?
UPDATE: From the NY Post:
“There were lots of tourists around. The kid was racing up the stairs with his younger sister and having a blast, having so much fun,’’ said a security guard at the Manhattan tourist attraction to The Post on Friday, a day after fatal jump.
“One of my colleagues told them, ‘I know it’s fun and stuff, but you are not allowed to run in the Vessel,’ and, ‘Stay with your parents.’ Somehow, when he got to Level Eight, he jumped,” the guard said of the teen from upscale Livingston, New Jersey.
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5 comments:
Ken writes:
"Who knows what attracts people to some sites to off themselves? A new federal courthouse opened in Los Angeles nearly 5 years ago. 10 stories of courtrooms. I was shocked that the design was a huge interior atrium with narrow passageways outside the courtrooms on each floor, with glass barriers certainly no higher than the ones at the Hudson Yards structure. To me it seemed an invitation to jumpers from among the criminal defendants forced to be there. But I have not heard of any attempts.
"Of course they will not tear down the NYC structure that supposedly cost $200m and which I bet is a tourist favorite already. But they could make the glass barriers taller. They already had to spend more money to make it ADA compliant. In time I expect the barriers to be raised at the LA courthouse, but since it's a GSA building done in an ugly way."
Skeptical Voter writes:
"Atlanta architect John C. Portman Jr. has a lot to answer for. He opened his firm in the early 1950s and was a very successful architect for large commercial properties and buildings. One of his “signature” design features was a large interior atrium. When I was travelling a lot on business from the mid-70s through the end of the century, I would occasionally get booked into a Portman designed hotel. The Hyatt Embarcadero in San Franciso was one such design. If you were unfortunate you might wind up in a room far from the elevator—you’d get a chance to hike around almost the entire inner perimeter of the hotel to get to your room. Of course you were treated to a view (from 20 stories above it) of the lobby and lounge below. And if you had wanted to join the folks in the lounge, all you had to do was climb over a chest high wall and “fly” down.
"Portman also designed the Los Angeles Bonaventure Hotel which opened in 1976. I could look out my office window (from across the street) and see it being built. To my eye the design looked like four silos in search of a leader. But Portman and his company were proud of the design. In their description for the building they said that Portman got many of his design ideas from Ralph Waldo Emerson and Frank Lloyd Wright. They wrote, “Portman believes that architecture is a comprehensive discipline that should shape and direct all aspects of life.” I can certainly agree with that idea—the architecture around people does have significant influence on them. But Portman’s passion for inner atria show sort of a donut hole in his “discipline”.
"I should not be hard on Portman. Although he has since died, his firm continues today almost 70 years after it was founded. The firm has designed major buildings around the world. And his idea of putting some “wow” factor into a hotel, shopping mall or other commercial building seems to have been adopted by most modern architects. But is it a good idea? For my part, when traveling to a major city, I liked to stay in smaller, older hotels, I didn’t need to walk into a Portman style palace and say to myself, “Toto we’re not in Kansas anymore”."
Gordon writes:
"I visited the Vessel in 2019. It quickly became apparent that climbing the Vessel was fruitless.
"They told me there was a participation award on the top level. I chose not."
LA_Bob writes:
Thought you might find this interesting as a law professor and photographer.
I read the Wikipedia article about The Vessel. I was surprised the developers had written such a restrictive photo policy to people who visit the attraction. I followed one of the links (number 27) to an article in something called The Gothamist, which discusses the policy and how it was modified after complaints.
That article includes this comment from a David Parsons:
'I bought an IR camera for my phone and was surprised to discover that not only did the company, Seek Thermal, lay claim to the pictures I took but when I ran their app it went out and contacted their system and their system wanted to access my camera, while I was using it!!
No joke, my phone wanted permission for their company to access their camera!!
I said no and returned it.
What are they teaching in law school these days?!?!?'
JamesL writes:
"I know it’s late but I was vacationing in and enjoying Wisconsin – specifically the airshow (or is it Airshow) in Oshkosh.
"Somehow, when he got to Level Eight, he jumped,” the guard said of the teen from upscale Livingston, New Jersey.
"Is “upscale” necessary in this context?"
I'll say:
Good point. I think it goes along with the observation that he was smiling and having fun. He was also living in affluence (of some sort). Yet he committed suicide. Hence, The Vessel has a dangerous effect. It might be causing suicide, not just providing a convenient jumping off point for those who were going to jump one way or the other.
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