AN ICON AMONG ICONS, Part 2

The geothermal-based heating and cooling systems control the temperature inside the booth; they also provide radiant heating for snow melt on the steps in the winter and cool the LEDs in the summer. The mechanical equipment equipment is visible through the glass walls.

Thanks to William Fellows Architects' powerful and deceptively simple plaza design, the booths and steps will provide a back-drop for visitors to appreciate the Father Duffy monument, which will now be fully accessible after years of partial concealment behind wrought iron fencing. The inscriptions on the back of the monument will now be viewable not only from the ground, but from various vantage points on the steps.

Booth and steps designed by Perkins Eastman based on a concept by Choi Ropiha; plaza designed by William Fellows Architects.

The new plaza design enables visitors to experience the entire bowtie on a grand scale. The Square has been swept clean of street furniture and clutter, consisting of a clean and undulating plane of granite pavers - approximately 3,800 of them - that rise and fall subtly as one moves along the plaza toward Father Duffy. Eighty-eight in-ground light fixtures arranged in groups of two throughout the plaza create a dramatic environment for the Square and for the Father Duffy monument. These pools of light will ignite the Square, providing theatrical up-lighting on this urban stage in a manner befitting the Crossroads of the World.

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