The wait is over. New York's Hudson Yards, which took nearly 20 years of planning and development, finally opens today. In 2001, the project's name and role in a potential 2012 Olympic bid were brought to the public eye. Between May 2004 to December 2010, Hudson Yards experienced a series of memorable events: project bids, environmental impact studies, zoning hurdles, Olympic prospects tanked, a recession, funding gains and losses, more zoning hurdles, project transitions, new project deals, and finally new development partners, which lead us to the project's first sign of "preparatory work" on the site. Nearly ten years of planning took place before construction would occur. After covering the project's development since 2011, Archinect has created a timeline of its progress on our site.
An aerial view of the Hudson Yards under development. Image via wikimedia.org
Momentum begins to take shape for Hudson Yards
November 2011 - Archinect's first piece of Hudson Yards coverage shares the reveal of luxury retail brand Coach becoming the first official tenant to sign onto the space.
October 2012 - A preview of plans for Hudson Yards, thanks to the New York Times is shared.
August 2013 - With construction well underway of the site's 47-story office tower, critics begin to question the banal tower design.
October 2013 - Thomas Heatherwick is chosen to design "the world's most expensive public art piece" for the site location.
A Hudson Yards building under construction (2013). Photo by Steven Severinghaus via Flickr Construction of the 30th street passage over the High Line at 10 Hudson Yards (March 2014). Photo by Steven Severinghaus via Flickr
Hudson Yards prepares for its structural and community foundations
March 2014- Hudson Yards begins their next phase of construction as work begins on the "Deck," which is designed to provide support for three neighboring skyscrapers.
March 2014- Word of the project's built foundation makes headlines as the largest private development in the history of U.S construction is said to "float" or sit atop a 300 concrete sleeve, supported by steel caissons under the bedrock.
April 2014 - Site developers partner with New York University's Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP). "The Hudson Yards/CUSP partnership is exactly the kind of project the City, NYU, and industry partners had in mind when the center was launched: it will aim to collect, integrate, manage, and analyze all the data streams coming in from Hudson Yards to help improve its quality of life."
April 2014- Hudson Yards, "the world's largest quantified community"
Aerial view of 55 Hudson Yards, the latest addition to Manhattan's ambitious Hudson Yards development (2015). Image courtesy of Related Oxford Mitsui
Construction and criticism for Hudson Yards
January 2015 - Construction begins on 55 Hudson, the project's $1.4 billion office tower.
August 2015- Archinect's critical round-up discusses James S. Russell's examination of Thomas Heatherwick and his Hudson Yards project.
An aerial view of the Hudson Yards megaproject (Dec. 2016). Image courtesy of Related-Oxford.
Project realizations are made while "smart city" claims are being reviewed
February 2016- BIG's new office tower concept, "The Spiral" is unveiled.
March 2016 - Hudson Yards may have a floating 9-acre neighbor across the way called "The Hub."
April 2016 - Archinect addresses Hudson Yard's claim that it is "the world's most ambitious smart city" experiment in reference to Shannon Mattern's book "Deep Mapping the Media City."
May 2016 - Archinect reflects on Hudson Yard's economic output to the city, with an estimated generation of $19B.
Aerial view of the enormous Hudson Yards development with 35 Hudson Yards peaking out from the center back (May 2018). Image courtesy of Related-Oxford.
"Vessel" on site (Oct 2018) Image via Related Companies on Instagram
The project begins to reach "new heights"
February 2018 - Is Thomas Heatherwick "the most creative person in the world?" Archinect features an interesting profile on the British designer and his other works. Archinect readers quickly share their views.
February 2018 - Rumors that Frank Gehry and Santiago Calatrava will join the project are shared with the public.
February 2018 - 15 Hudson Yards tops out and stands over 900 feet tall.
June 2018 - 35 Hudson Yards tops out at 1,009 feet
35 Hudson apartment renderings (March 2019) Image via Related-Oxford
On the ground of Hudson Yards, where the Shed meets the tower at 15 Hudson Yards (March 2019). Tony Cenicola/The New York Times
Anticipation builds in 2019
January 2019- The public is invited to decide the official name of Thomas Heatherwick's "Vessel" art installation.
February 2019- Is Hudson Yard's a playground for billionaires or a budding new urban landscape?
March 2019 - New renderings of 35 Hudson Yards is revealed, allowing for potential tenants to view the $5 - $11 million homes.
March 2019- Michael Kimmelman shares his views on Hudson Yards.
With "The Edge" at 30 Hudson Yards scheduled to open at the end of 2019, stay tuned for upcoming news and reactions to the project after its official opening.
The use of GEOMETRY is good. The design could have been more uniform (same geometrical shape) for it can b more consistent or rhythmic; better use of material and color, but it is HONEST; bur it offers a diversity of geometrical shapes and designs. Diversity is the Spice of Life. It is resembles our current times, not the past.
We focus on Hudson Yards because of what it represents. But put the project in brackets and set aside. Look rather at the world outside it, the forces that led to its creation. Any resulting architecture would be similar to what you find when you remove the brackets.
Alan Brake in dezeen:
"Hudson Yards is not for us, because it is a billionaire's fantasy of the future of city life. Architecture is slow, and Hudson Yards was conceived by the administration of Michael Bloomberg and built by Stephen Ross, the chairman and majority owner of Related Companies.
"The two men believed, and apparently still believe, that catering to an ultra-luxury consumer magically benefits everyone. Bloomberg famously said in 2013: 'If we could get every billionaire around the world to move here, it would be a godsend.'"
It's the wet dream of a speculator, not a reading of the public weal.
Then there's this:
"Hudson Yards is not for us, because it collects data on the people who live, work, and visit there in order to market to them. It views people as consumers, not as citizens. According to real-estate publication The Real Deal, Hudson Yards is collecting data on purchases, movements, and biometrics with kiosks, cameras, scanners, and proprietary apps."
Maybe unpopular opinion, but I find that most criticism of The Vessel wrongly treats it as a piece of Architecture.
It's sculpture.
If Christo and Jeanne-Claude did it they'd win an award.
Mar 21, 19 6:00 pm ·
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tduds
I'm not even necessarily saying this is good, just that I feel like the criteria on which it's being judged are incorrect.
Mar 22, 19 10:50 am ·
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JLC-1
is the eiffel tower sculpture to you? or the st louis arch? besides, christo's installations have a stated purpose and are limited in time, this "thing" will last forever, I wish I would live to see it when the thrill is long gone.
Mar 22, 19 12:22 pm ·
·
tduds
Yes, and yes. Perhaps Christo wasn't the best example...
Christo and Jeanne-Claude would wrap the entire Hudson Yards project in colored fabric, similar to the way exterminators wrap houses to fumigate them. Wait until the place is full of vermin and have at it.
Mar 21, 19 9:20 pm ·
·
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12 Comments
The vessel presents little interest : structure too complicated, heavy, and ugly color. the skin of the hangar is not elegant either.
Why do you want to make originality at all costs? It is much better to build something that has meaning, elegant lines and simplicity.
The use of GEOMETRY is good. The design could have been more uniform (same geometrical shape) for it can b more consistent or rhythmic; better use of material and color, but it is HONEST; bur it offers a diversity of geometrical shapes and designs. Diversity is the Spice of Life. It is resembles our current times, not the past.
Someone shared in the office that some New Yorkers are calling the staircase building the Shawarma and now I can't unsee it.
Roasted dingleberry
We focus on Hudson Yards because of what it represents. But put the project in brackets and set aside. Look rather at the world outside it, the forces that led to its creation. Any resulting architecture would be similar to what you find when you remove the brackets.
Alan Brake in dezeen:
"Hudson Yards is not for us, because it is a billionaire's fantasy of the future of city life. Architecture is slow, and Hudson Yards was conceived by the administration of Michael Bloomberg and built by Stephen Ross, the chairman and majority owner of Related Companies.
"The two men believed, and apparently still believe, that catering to an ultra-luxury consumer magically benefits everyone. Bloomberg famously said in 2013: 'If we could get every billionaire around the world to move here, it would be a godsend.'"
It's the wet dream of a speculator, not a reading of the public weal.
Then there's this:
"Hudson Yards is not for us, because it collects data on the people who live, work, and visit there in order to market to them. It views people as consumers, not as citizens. According to real-estate publication The Real Deal, Hudson Yards is collecting data on purchases, movements, and biometrics with kiosks, cameras, scanners, and proprietary apps."
https://www.dezeen.com/2019/03...
It's the world that has to be redesigned. Architecture will follow.
Shawarma is more interesting...and more fun than climbing stairs to the top of the lowest thing in the area.
as lame as the vessel is, imagine how completely soul crushing this development would be without it.
It’s too bad the “design” isn’t spread through the site rather than quarantined into on gadget fruit basket
Maybe unpopular opinion, but I find that most criticism of The Vessel wrongly treats it as a piece of Architecture.
It's sculpture.
If Christo and Jeanne-Claude did it they'd win an award.
I'm not even necessarily saying this is good, just that I feel like the criteria on which it's being judged are incorrect.
is the eiffel tower sculpture to you? or the st louis arch? besides, christo's installations have a stated purpose and are limited in time, this "thing" will last forever, I wish I would live to see it when the thrill is long gone.
Yes, and yes. Perhaps Christo wasn't the best example...
An amusement park attraction is not sculpture.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude would wrap the entire Hudson Yards project in colored fabric, similar to the way exterminators wrap houses to fumigate them. Wait until the place is full of vermin and have at it.
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