I knew the Vessel was going to have a suicide problem years before it was built

The apparent ambivalence towards how different bodies—including bodies in crisis—might relate to the Vessel are the consequence of the structure’s privately-financed, closed-door origins. By choosing to design the entire structure in private, and then framing the Vessel as a universally welcoming site (despite its obvious hostility to some), Related and Thomas Heatherwick missed an opportunity to understand the needs and limitations of a broader public. Read more here.