200 Clarendon’s Bright Future

Right next to the Tower is a fountain--a great exercise into the role of public space--that many seem to sit, relax, and ponder around.

A look at how different the architecture around the Tower is.

A pulsating square.

In recent years, the Tower has even shown up in popular media, such as in the TV show Fringe. 

Here, you see that the Tower plays an important and intimate role in urban life of this square, such as playing host to art exhibits on its wall (such as this mural by a French photographer, which was on display in 2015). 

How does this imposing tower at 200 Clarendon fit into Copley Square, Boston, and beyond? The idea of public spaces is particularly important when considering how large, unmissable architectural feats such as the John Hancock Tower interact with their surroundings—and how, in turn, the people around interact back with it.  

Having discussed its rocky past and unveiling as an architectural maven, it is important to look at the Tower today and also its future. Today, Copley Square is a Boston classic, and many flock there to catch a glimpse of the Tower, the Boston Public Library, and other classic landmarks. Often on the evenings, such as upon my visit on a Tuesday, there can be observed a hodgepodge of people interacting with this space: tourist groups, musicians, locals pondering life at a nearby fountain, workers exiting the Tower after a long day at work. There is a sense of pulsating excitement that the Tower seems to have birthed and be at the center of. 

The Tower has also recently been host to public art exhibits, including a 2015 installation by French artist JR. Thereby, its place in the community gets even more solidified as a cultural center of the city.

 And even more so, it’s even immortalized itself with a place in popular media, as it (wrongly!) served as the FBI Headquarters building in the TV show Fringe. 

Looking at the future, one thing remains certain: although the Tower emerged out of controversy, a little confusion, and a lot of engineering flaws, it today stands as a symbol of Boston and its urban skyline. That much is evident upon a quick visit to Copley Square, home to many other frequented sites in Boston such as the Public Library, in which there seems to be a pulsing life in and around the tower. And as such, life will continue to move around this public treasure of the city, in a way that allows for this urban space to be built into a patchwork quilt of stories and individual experiences, into a “sieve-order” that Certeau discussed. 

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Smee, Sebastian (September 25, 2015). "With Hancock piece, the public gets an imposing and intriguing gift". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2016-09-26.