Bennett Park and The 'Helix'

Bennett Park is a usable plaza on the Gouverneur Lane side of 77 Water St. There is built-in bench seating, some trees and greenery, and sometimes shade when the sun hits it correctly. This is an inviting plaza filled with whimsical art and sculpture that almost dwarfs the building to which it is attached, not for its size, but for the fact that you are so entranced by the art and sculpture surrounding the building that you almost do not look up at the building itself.

My son went with me on this site visit and the engineer in him was immediately drawn to ‘Helix’ (1969), a sculpture by Rudolph de Harak in the right side of the frame. Harak took 120 one-inch thick stainless steel strips to create a spiral that actually looks like a helix or a strand of DNA.

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