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Glow Competition Documents

Deadline: February 3, 2012

Copley Square

Copley Square is a public square located in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, USA. The square is named in honor of the donor of the land on which it was developed, John Singleton Copley, a famous portrait painter of the late 18th century and native of Boston. A bronze statue of Copley, by sculptor Lewis Cohen, is located on the northern side of the square. The name Copley Square is frequently applied to the larger area extending approximately two blocks east and west along Boylston Street, Huntington Avenue, and St. James Avenue. The square is adjacent to the finish line of the Boston Marathon, which is commemorated by a monument in the park.

According to historian Douglas Shand-Tucci, Victorian Copley Square was developed by Boston’s Brahmin caste in the 1865-1915 period as a great New World agora of arts and sciences, faith and learning. Its cornerstone was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), including the first American school of architecture, founded in the square. Within a block of MIT would be built the crown jewel of modern Harvard, its medical school. The square was once the cradle of the great galaxy of educational institutions which made Boston the American intellectual capital in the 20th century. Shand-Tucci asserts the square presided over what he calls "the dawn of the modern American experience."

Copley Square may be unique in boasting of three masterpieces of world stature in the medieval, classical and modern traditions. The backdrop of Copley Square includes buildings which constitute some of the most famous confrontation in the history of American architecture. These landmarks include Trinity Church, Boston Public Library and I.M. Pei’s John Hancock Tower which provides an elegant sliver of reflecting light along the perimeter of Copley Square and Boston’s historic skyline.

For precedents, please have a look through some of the following online lighting publications:

Architectural Record Lighting Awards

Lighting Research and Technology Journal

Mondo Arc

Total Lighting UK

Architectural Lighting

 

Images of Copley Square, Boston, Massachusetts, USA by night.

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