In the capital of financial services, two insurance buildings dominate the Boston skyline. The Hancock Tower and Prudential Center are structures that showcase the uneven change and urban development that occurred in this city during the 19th century. Located in the rear bay, these buildings interact with the directionality of adjacent streets and the cultural history of the structures that surround them. The Boston Foundation was composed in order to designate and organize the space. This creates the tension and contrast present between the two structures. The iconography that these structures have on the city is important. It represents a sense of the past and the purpose that the built environment has with a changing society. Although these structures dominate much of the skyline, they interact differently with the public. There is a physical boundary that separates the features and the interaction that society can actively have with them. This essay will focus on the structural purpose in relation to the form following function of these skyscrapers and how each demonstrates a design aspect that characterizes Boston through a visual perspective. The Prudential Center is the second tallest structure in Boston. Situated in the back bay and easy to access via public transport, the complex serves as a marketplace for hundreds of shops and stores. This structure is a network of buildings and internal pedestrian paths that function as a unit to provide a very interactive circulation system. This center has a direct focus on the public, insofar as it directs them through most of the connected structures. Individuals can travel throughout the center and up to… half of the card… in its entirety suitable for a shopping or community center. But until then it will rule the horizon simply as a commercial, private company. Works Cited Rubin, Elihu. Securing the city: the prudential center and the post-war urban landscape. New Haven: Yale UP, 2012. Print.Beagle, Jonathan. Boston: A Visual History. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 2013. Print."Famous Properties: Boston's Signature Skyscraper." Journal of Property Management July-August. 2004: 8. Academic OneFile. Network. April 29, 2014.O'Connor, Mickey Mouse. "Storm in a Beanbag." Architecture March 2001: 126. Academic OneFile. Network. April 29, 2014. "Pei, I.M. (1917-)." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Academic OneFile. Network. April 29, 2014.Luberoff, David. “A better public square.” Technology Review May-June 1984: 80+. Academic OneFile. Network. April 29. 2014.