34 VESSEL, NEW YORK CITY
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STEEL
In total there are 75 major steel components – which were built at Cimolai’s yard in Italy
manipulated like that.” It was also unaffected by being cut where necessary. “There was a huge quality assurance over the whole project and we’re really happy with it,” Dudeney says.
PROJECT FACTFILE
Designers: Heatherwick Studio Client: Related / Oxford Properties Group Design engineers: AKTII Structural engineers: Thornton Tomasetti Landscape architects: Nelson Byrd Woltz Architect of record: KPF Associates Steel contractor: Cimolai Lift contractor: Cimolai Technologies Cladding contractor: Permasteelisa Crowd analysis: Arup Lighting designers: L’Observatoire International Project management: Tisham
As well as being tested for the specific ways it would be manipulated for Vessel, it also underwent testing that put it up against the saline atmospheric conditions of New York. The practice have been so impressed by PVD they’re likely to use it again, says Dudeney. “As a studio we are very interested in materials,” he explains. “We’re always interested in designing through exploration of materials so this is another way for us to expand our knowledge.” They chose not to clad the entirety of the soffit in the copper-look steel – it mostly runs along the underside of each walkway – leaving certain elements of the painted carbon steel structure on show. “New York has a great steel heritage so we were keen to show off the joints and what the structure is,” Dudeney explains. In total there are 75 major steel components – which were built at Cimolai’s yard in Italy. The stainless steel upstand was also added before the components were shipped to site and assembled along with the concrete flooring and glass balustrading. “What they managed to do was fantastic,” says Dudeney. Each splice joint location was
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influenced by the practicalities of transporting the steel elements and where they needed to be broken up but, he says, “I think it makes the whole thing feel more relatable and interesting.”
Everyone working on the project was focused on tackling the constraints of a busy Manhattan site – surrounded by tower block construction – and every precaution was taken to minimise the work needed insitu. Cimolai test constructed the bottom few levels in Italy, and the Heatherwick team would fly out to look at it, check the tolerances and make any necessary changes before the components made their way to the US. “That whole process really helped debug anything that might have happened in New York which was great,” says Dudeney. “Logistically there was a lot of work in terms of getting materials in and out and they did a great job with that.”
Engineering challenges One of the “major challenges”, says Dudeney, was figuring out just how small they could make Vessel’s base, and how large it could be at the top. “It’s the complete reverse of what buildings normally do, for very good reasons!” he says. “You mix in New York regulations, the physical reality of what carbon steel can do and the structural limitations, and the
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