A Pitched Plane
A gentle, two-percent slope extends across the site, creating a pitched plane with elevated views of the water and a stepped gathering place at the harbor edge.
Image: Charles Mayer Photography
A Complex Support System
A group of 11-inch-wide Caliper Oaks with 8-foot root balls were selected a year and a half before installation. A complex support system holds the adjacent pavement above the root flare, allowing a large, continuous rooting area of 3-foot-deep sand-based structural soil to extend beneath the plaza.
Image: Charles Mayer Photography
Gentle Arcs Direct Visitors
The trunks of the oak trees and the low granite seat walls create a series of gentle arcs that extend through the plaza. These arcs acknowledge and direct the strong diagonal movement of pedestrians.
Image: Charles Mayer Photography
A Human-scaled Outdoor Room
The canopy of the oak trees introduces shade into a part of the city where shade is a limited commodity. The oaks also unify the space and create a human-scaled outdoor room that feels both discreet and connected to its surroundings.
Image: Charles Mayer Photography
Lighting Extends Useful Hours
A series of 6-inch poles support a catenary light system that threads through the tree canopy. The grid of LED lights creates a festive quality of light within the tree-filled space and extends the useful hours of the plaza.
Image: JP Shadley 
Poles Echo Trees
An elegant wood and steel arbor reinforces the oak canopy, defining the space from above. The detailing of the poles’ intersection with the ground plane echoes the similar relationship between the trees and the ground plane.
Image: Millicent Harvey
A Sense of Calm in Busy Boston
Craftsmanship and a limited palette of plant materials, granite, steel, and wood create a cohesion and sense of calm in one of the busiest spots in the city.
Image: Millicent Harvey
The Rhythm of the Materials
Wooden seating panels are inserted into low granite walls, creating seating opportunities and a rhythm of alternating wood and stone.
Image: Millicent Harvey
Hidden Mechanical Equipment
Care was taken to integrate the necessary mechanical equipment and allow it to function as part of the overall seating concept.
Image: JP Shadley, Shadley Associates 
A Magical Quality
The combination of the dense canopy and gentle catenary LED fixtures create an almost magical quality as the space transitions into night.
Image: Charles Mayer Photography