Thomas Heatherwick steps up to the challenge of creating a centrepiece for Hudson Yards redevelopment

This is ultimately a Keep Fit project, says the British designer Thomas Heatherwick of his new $150m commission for New York, unveiled today in Hudson Yards, the major redevelopment project on Manhattans West Side. Made of 154 interlinked staircases and 80 platforms, that add up to nearly 2,500 steps, Heatherwicks Vessel will serve as the centrepiece of a five-acre public square and gardens built over a city rail yard.
The idea was that we could make something that you could get up at 6am every