According to today's Globe, the owner of the Hancock Tower, currently the tallest building in Boston (until the Menino Tower is built), has hired Elkus | Manfredi architects to design a "glass-enclosed public square on the windswept and forbidding half-acre plaza at its front doors on Clarendon Street, turning the trophy property's biggest drawback into a public asset."

The new space, a 25,000 square foot area ,currently used as underground storage and a cafeteria, will shield visitors inside the space from winds created largely because of the long, straight streets with many tall buildings and few trees (the wind is worse in New York's financial district). "The new enclosure would shield visitors from winds in the area that are sometimes fierce. The space would be heated in winter and air conditioned in summer."

My question is will this new addition to the Hancock Tower do anything to mitigate the wind for people walking down the street, or will it only help those that are shopping or eating inside?