The Vessel is a honeycomb like structure that stands 16 stories high and consists of 154 flights of stairs. Its concept was announced to the public in September 2016 with its British designer Thomas Heatherwick as its architect. Its construction began in April 2017 and from then until its opening in March 2019, its design was kept a secret from the public. The framework of the Vessel was constructed in the steelworks of Northern Italy and then incrementally brought over to the USA and shipped over to midtown Manhattan by way of tugboats along the Hudson River.

  The Vessel was designed to be the centerpiece of the Hudson Yards, to be the piece that pulls together an otherwise concrete jungle of vertical glass towers. As such it is an open space that expands upward and outward providing 80 landings along the way for tourists and NYC residents alike to use as whatever they so desire.