Related Projects

Parks, Trails & Land
  • Windows on the Floating World

    • A project using refracted light and other day/night lighting effects for a new mixed-use building

  • Meeting Place

    • A green community oasis in the Downtown Greenway, Greensboro, NC

  • Xixi Umbrellas

    • Floating umbrella sculptures in the Xixi Wetland Park of Hangzhou, China

  • Terra Fugit

    • A park design that explores the changing Everglades environment to help visitors relate to a rapidly transforming landscape

  • The Zanjero’s Line

    • A recreational path along 4 miles of the Highline Canal in South Phoenix, AZ

  • Topiary – A Twenty Year Project

    • A sculptural gateway to Brooklyn’s Prospect Park Zoo that measures time with growing boxwood

  • Mud Life of the Maumee

    • Whimsical drawings of small creatures choreograph movement along paths in a Toledo, OH neighborhood park

  • Kenduskeag Roots

    • Four sites along the river trail using fallen trees and recorded sound

  • River Runes

    • A trail of installations focused on the river at Art Park

  • Three Gardens

    • Domestic scale gardens make intimate spaces on the grounds of the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, MA

  • Reclamation Art

    • Reclamation Artists Boston

Massachusetts
  • Man from City Hall

    • Boston City Hall becomes a giant character for First Night celebrations

  • Portrait Chairs

    • Seats of honor for readers in Norfolk, MA

  • In the Dense Words

    • A book environment for a book distribution company

  • Glove Cycle

    • Gloves go through a life cycle while leading passengers down into a Cambridge subway station

  • Asaroton, 1976

    • Bronze garbage embedded in a Boston crosswalk commemorates a produce market.

  • Gateway

    • An oversized table creates a fanciful gateway in a Cambridge middle school

  • Drawn Water

    • A permanent piece at the Cambridge, MA Water Treatment Plant about where water comes from and where it goes

  • 300 Summer Street

    • An artist-owned live/work studio building in Boston’s Fort Point area with recycled steel plate sculpture for the public spaces

  • The Bay Circuit Trail

    • A community project traversing the “Emerald Necklace” surrounding Boston

  • Submerge

    • Video collaboration by Mags Harries & Catherine Siller for Art on the Marquee at the Boston Convention Center

  • Winding Down the Charles

    • A performance piece in Cambridge, MA about the length of the river and time

  • Speed of Light

    • Mags’ students illuminate the future route of transit connecting eight communities around Boston

  • River

    • An illusionary river of water, light, and shadow

  • Lucid Moment

    • Bringing together light, liquid, movement, and space

  • Three Gardens

    • Domestic scale gardens make intimate spaces on the grounds of the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, MA

  • One Legged Table

    • Bringing communities to the table to discuss global warming

  • Our Charles River

    • Exploring the connections between people, water and rivers

  • Reclamation Art

    • Reclamation Artists Boston

Ben’s Circular Tower

  • Location: Mission Hill, Boston, MA (1994)
  • Client: The Mission Hill Community and the City of Boston
  • Size: Main Tower, 18′ x 18′ x 8′
  • Materials: Granite, glass, landscaping, trees, solar powered lighting
  • Funding: Browne Fund, City of Boston, MA
  • Budget: $100,000
  • Photo Credits: Kathy Chapman

A Tower on a Hill

Ben’s Circular Tower is a living memorial to a child in the Mission Hill community who died.  This Boston public art project was completed in 1994. The granite stones that form the Tower are recycled from a demolished railroad bridge.  The Tower is sited on top of a hill that commands a dramatic view of the park.

Glass rock

The inside of the Tower is shaped as an amphitheater with seating around a glass rock.  The glass rock is illuminated from below using solar powered lighting.  After sundown the glass rock glows, giving the site a presence even at night.  The site is designed as a place for storytelling and the memorial fund is paying for an active story-telling program administered by the local library.

A place for Fantasy

The gateway and circular stairs of the tower draw on the designs of castles, allowing children to feel like they are entering a fantasy place as they ascend the stairs.  The sweeping view further engages children’s sense of fantasy and wonder.

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