Already controversial for its absurdist design in the middle of a billionaires’ playground, the Vessel at New York City’s Hudson Yards is now a tragic example of what can happen when architects put design before public safety. In January 2021, the 150-foot-tall interactive sculptural installation featuring 154 interconnected open-air staircases closed for several months following three suicides. When it reopened in July, new safety measures like onsite security staff, a buddy system, and signs about mental health resources were supposed to prevent further fatalities. But they weren’t enough. On July 30th, a 14-year-old boy became the fourth person to die as his horrified family watched.

Unfortunately, additional deaths were a predictable result of the reopening. As journalists noted well before the tourist attraction first opened to the public in March 2019, the Vessel’s glass railings are only waist-high on the average person. And when you make it easy for someone to jump to their death, especially in spectacular fashion in front of a crowd, you’re going to draw in desperate people who might otherwise recover and find reasons to go on. That’s also true for other common sites of suicide, like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, which is currently undergoing a renovation to install new guards.
This last suicide, at the very least, could have been prevented. Earlier this year, calls to raise the height of the Vessel’s glass rai...