In 2023, we installed speed humps throughout East Fenway (except for Hemenway Street, which will receive speed humps when the contraflow bike lane is installed).

Speed humps can lower typical driving speeds to 20 miles per hour. Speed humps are placed in a series to deter speeding on any given street. In Boston, speed humps are typically between 150 and 250 feet apart. Speed humps are always planned on a network of streets. This prevents drivers from simply choosing another nearby street.

Speed humps have no impacts on drainage or parking. They are approximately 3 inches high and 12 to 24 feet long. Our snow plow drivers are able to clear snow on streets with speed humps.

We do not install speed humps where the street is too steep or curvy. We also avoid manholes and other utility access points and do not place speed humps directly in front of driveways.

Project Context

Boston Arts Academy is Boston’s only public high school for the visual and performing arts. It provides a diverse student body access to a college-preparatory arts and academic education. 

This project was funded through the City’s Percent for Art program. The total project budget was $375,000. It complemented the City’s $125 million construction of a new building for Boston Arts Academy in the Fenway neighborhood. The state-of-the-art facility at 174 Ipswich Street includes:

• dedicated rehearsal and performance spaces
• gallery space
• studios for music, visual arts, and fashion design
• academic classrooms, and
• recreation areas, kitchens, and student commons.

Commissioning Process

The City released a Call for Artists for two public art projects at the site in October 2019. Several artists were invited to interview with an Artist Selection Committee. The Committee was comprised of:

• representatives from the Boston Art Commission
• local arts professionals representing the neighborhood, and
• professional and student end-users of the project site. 

The Artist Selection Committee selected:

• MASARY Studios for the interior artwork, and 
• Simon Donovan and Ben Olmstead for exterior artwork. 

The Boston Art Commission voted to approve both artists for the commissions.

In addition to "Memory/Diffusion", the City commissioned Simon Donovan and Ben Olmstead to create an exterior artwork. They installed The Creative in December 2022. It is located at the corner of Ipswich Street and Van Ness Street, on the public sidewalk.

Learn more about 'The Creative' 

MASARY Studio’s multimedia artwork, "Memory/Diffusion", was installed in the main atrium of the school. As a part of the everyday landscape for an arts school, the creative team behind "Memory/Diffusion" questioned how an artwork could evolve over the years and mirror the vibrancy and diversity of activity in the school. Through research, inventive technologies, and a keen interest in the concepts of memory developed by French philosopher Henri Bergson, MASARY set out to answer these questions and offer new speculation through this contemporary artwork.

Project Context

Boston Arts Academy is Boston’s only public high school for the visual and performing arts. It provides a diverse student body access to a college-preparatory arts and academic education. 

This project was funded through the City’s Percent for Art program. The total project budget was $250,000, including fabrication and installation. It complemented the City’s $125 million construction of a new building for Boston Arts Academy in the Fenway neighborhood. The state-of-the-art facility at 174 Ipswich Street includes:

• dedicated rehearsal and performance spaces
• gallery space
• studios for music, visual arts, and fashion design
• academic classrooms, and
• recreation areas, kitchens, and student commons.

Commissioning Process

The City released a Call for Artists for two public art projects at the site in October 2019. Several artists were invited to interview with an Artist Selection Committee. The Committee was comprised of:

• representatives from the Boston Art Commission
• local arts professionals representing the neighborhood, and
• professional and student end-users of the project site. 

The Artist Selection Committee selected:

• MASARY Studios for the interior artwork, and 
• Simon Donovan and Ben Olmstead for exterior artwork. 

The Boston Art Commission voted to approve both artists for the commissions.

In addition to The Creative, the City commissioned MASARY Studios to create an interior artwork. They installed Memory/Diffusion in September 2022. It is located along a monumental stairway that runs from the first to second floor in the center of the building, near the front entrance. 

Learn more about 'Memory/Diffusion' 

"The Creative" by Simon Donovan and Ben Olmstead is a free standing, stainless steel sculpture. It was installed in front of Boston Arts Academy. The sculpture is a depiction of a young woman with her eyes closed and head tilted upward in an imagining gaze. The “head” is composed of dozens of laser-cut stainless-steel shapes. They are held apart to create a skin of perforated stainless steel. Each 5/16” thick plane is welded together in a stacking fashion by small rods that create a 1” distance between sheets. The effect is that of an ever-shifting nature as you move around the piece. You go from perceiving the appearance of clearly defined topographic planes to seeming almost invisible when looking straight-on from front or back.