Hatchlings | Winter Lights Activation
The Rose Kennedy Greenway and the CHARLES RIVER Esplanade | Boston, MASSACHUSETTS
Hatchlings is on view on The Greenway and the Esplanade every evening at dusk from November 18, 2023 through February 25, 2024.
Hatchlings is designed to be a solar-powered light installation that pays joyful homage to one of Boston’s architectural gems and envisions a brighter, more environmentally sustainable future for our city.
Selected as the winning design via The Greenway’s open call process in Spring 2023, Hatchlings was inspired by a whimsical question we asked ourselves in a creative brainstorming session: What if the Hatch Shell hatched “shells” that wandered off through the parks like adventurous ducklings?
By intertwining two pieces of Boston’s iconic history, the Hatch Memorial Shell and the story Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey, this installation is highly specific to Boston. Through its joyful homage to one of Boston’s architectural gems, Hatchlings draws on the city’s history of innovative design as a catalyst toward a sustainable future. Inspired by the intricate Art Deco architecture of the Hatch Shell pavilion and through the process of working to echo its arches and angles, our team discovered many layers of thoughtful geometric elegance. The Hatchlings Pavilions are effectively quarter sphere structures, each fabricated by welding bent rod into arched shapes.
With two Hatchlings on the Charles River Esplanade and seven Hatchlings on the Rose Kennedy Greenway, the Hatchlings appear across the city in a range of colors and sizes from large (9 ft tall) with a circular wood stage, to mini (2.5 ft tall) tucked into the landscaping. The Hatchlings are meant to be explored and enjoyed, and will serve as locations for ongoing performances (both planned and spontaneous), photo backdrops, and public activations.
Striving to use only solar energy throughout the darkest months of the year was a design challenge we as a creative studio were excited to meet, and something that we felt was critical to advancing the conversation about sustainability in Boston. By presenting a solar installation that shows us the amount of light present each day - evidenced by the (sometimes limited) amount of illumination each night, Hatchlings asks the public to think more critically about natural resources while pushing creative and technical limits of what is currently possible with solar. In the end, good design is about problem solving, and as the days grew darker, the hatchlings were not illuminating for long enough, and the window of time that they could be enjoyed by the public was not long enough, so we made the hard decision to convert four of the nine hatchlings to grid power, extending full illumination until 11pm each night.
This project is a collaborative undertaking between the Greenway Conservancy and the Esplanade Association. With seven Hatchlings on the Rose Kennedy Greenway and two on the Charles River Esplanade, this project visually links two of Boston’s most-used downtown outdoor spaces.
“When Chris Cook and The Greenway team reached out about Studio HHH’s idea, we were thrilled to partner,” said Jen Mergel, James & Audrey Foster Executive Director of the Esplanade Association. “The project nods to the Esplanade’s long history as a cultural convener (since the Boston Pops performed at the original music shell in the 1920s) and prompt for imagination (since Robert McCloskey’s 1941 classic ‘Make Way for Ducklings’ about Mrs. Mallard leading her hatchlings from the Esplanade to the Public Garden). But it also marks the Esplanade’s future as a site of sustainable innovation and inclusive cross-city connection, much like our friends at The Greenway.”
These two green corridors contribute to Boston's identity as a city that values its public spaces and fosters a sense of community and well-being, elevating general quality of life in the city and creating a more interconnected urban experience. This project is intended to be explored across both parks, creating a conceptual bridge between these two organizations. One day, we would love to see these two public spaces connected physically to encourage sustainable and active transportation, such as walking or biking, enhancing the city's commitment to green mobility.
The idea of working in public parks aligns perfectly with our mission at Studio HHH. The natural environment, the diversity of spaces, and the need to consider sustainability all make designing within the context of a public park a rich and dynamic context for our work. Because experiencing art on The Greenway and The Esplanade is free and open to the public, it provides us the opportunity to reach a wider audience and supports our passion for making art accessible to everyone. The Greenway Conservancy and the Esplanade Association are showing us every day that parks are not just green spaces; they're vibrant hubs of community life and culture that offer a unique canvas and context to experience art in the outdoors.
This creative activation has provided Bostonians with an experiential destination during the coldest months of the year while showcasing an innovative and sustainable approach to winter lights.
