Modern skyscrapers may as well be spaceships. Their exteriors are usually impenetrably smooth, their shapes are often aerodynamic, and, for the most part, if you want to open a window, forget about it ...

Eleven stories above ground level, Sarah Hawkins describes the herculean effort to create the brand new South Station Tower. "We had to work only in the nighttime for two years," said Hawkins, the ...