Inside Hudson Yards, NYC’s Futuristic New Megaproject
It’s rare that an entire neighbourhood rises all at once — and even rarer in densely packed New York City. But that’s exactly what’s happening with Hudson Yards, a futuristic super-development that clusters shopping, an Equinox hotel, and restaurants by David Chang and Thomas Keller into 16 starchitect-designed skyscrapers. Upping the area’s cultural cred is The Shed, a new breed of hyper-flexible cultural centre enclosed inside a glass shell-on-rails designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Rockwell Group. When retracted, this shell reveals a giant outdoor plaza; when extended outward, it enlarges the venue’s performance and exhibition space.
Things officially kick off April 5 with a five-night concert series celebrating African-American music. Meanwhile, another buzzy future attraction waits just around the corner in the form of The Vessel, a pine cone-like structure of cascading staircases designed by Thomas Heatherwick.
Set to welcome visitors later this year, it will finally let us experience what it would be like to Instagram from inside an M.C. Escher print. Ready your smartphone.
