TOWERS TO HONOR TRIO

Marathon memorial set for Boylston St.

Two 20-foot stone towers will rise above the blast sites of the 2013 Marathon bombings to mark the places where two women and a boy died, but the project is still in design and will require coordination between numerous city and state groups, officials said.

Engineers for Stantec, which is helping to design the monuments, told city officials at a public hearing yesterday that plans call for the granite towers, each weighing several tons, to be placed at the bomb sites — 671 Boylston St., the home of Marathon Sports, and 755 Boylston St., in front of a large apartment building. The towers will be two-anda-half feet on each side at their base, set in small plazas that protrude from the sidewalk into the street, but the design is not yet complete.

Engineers did not present cost estimates at the hearing but will return with more details on June 22.

Officials have requested proposals for a city-focused memorial to commemorate the bombings and honor first responders, but the bomb site memorials are being designed by a separate artist, sculptor Pablo Eduardo, who is working with the families of bombing victims Krystle Campbell, Lu Lingzi and Martin Richard to design the pillars. Eduardo did not respond to requests for comment.

Bob Corning, a senior principal at Stantec, said the pillars will be in small plazas that leave room for regular foot traffic on the sidewalk, And they will be placed on a base of “micropiles” in order to support the structures, which could weigh at least four tons.

Department of Public Works and Boston Water and Sewer Commission officials will review the plans, as will MBTA officials, who will examine any effects on the Green Line passing nearby. Robert Shure, a sculptor who designed the Massachusetts Fallen Firefighters Memorial at the State House and the South Boston World War II Memorial, said memorials in urban areas present many challenges.

“City streets could be a problem, there’s so much going on underground — not just subways, but utility lines and water mains,” Shure said. “You have to really work around things like that.”

But Shure said the combination of the granite material and initial design seem to lead to a powerful memorial, despite any potential difficulties.

“It’s a big honor and a big responsibility too,” Shure said of creating public memorials. “You’re trying to provide the end of a story for a lot of people who went through a lot of tragedy and lost their lives.”