The far west side of Manhattan has always been the ugly ducking of the mighty borough: it doesn't have the cosmopolitan grace of Uptown, the funky hipster cred of Downtown, or the commercial excitement of Midtown. The far west side is just ... there ... In the past it was mostly home to car dealerships, ugly buildings, and strip clubs. It was ... ugh ...
That's changing, of course.
What used to be one of the most forgettable parts of an otherwise unforgettable borough is being rapidly developed into a massive project called Hudson Yards: it'll contain huge apartment buildings, stores, restaurants, parks, and public spaces, the whole deal. It'll essentially be a brand-new neighborhood, a whole new town, within the big city itself. It'll be expensive, of course, not just to build but also to patronize.
One thing will be free, however.
The developers of Hudson Yards are also, to quote The Big Lebowski, "gonna pull the room together." At the heart of this new neighborhood will be the Vessel, designed by British star architeht Thomas Heatherwick. The Vessel is an "interactive" sculpture that resembles an upside-down honeycomb. By "interactive" it means that it's just a massive bunch of interconnected staircases that descend in the shape of an inverted triangle and, if I understand correctly, it'll connect to the Highline. Doubtless it'll be the next big tourist trap and place to be seen.
The far west side used to get, to quote Rodney, "no respect." Soon it'll be the new center of excitement in NYC. I'm sure Robert Moses would approve.
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