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The 35-foot-long, bifurcated chunk of black granite in front of the FleetBoston tower here strikes many passersby as just one more baffling example of modern art.
"It looks like a kayak, or maybe a broken boat," says Boston lawyer Michael Litchman. "Honestly, I have no idea what it is."
No wonder Mr. Litchman is puzzled. He's looking at a new phenomenon in the American urban landscape: security disguised as art. The massive sculpture, carefully placed in front of the shallow main stairs, is intended to keep a terrorist from driving into the skyscraper's lobby with a bomb.

The intertwining of security and architecture is a throwback to antiquity. From medieval English castles to the Great Wall of China, structures throughout history have been built with defense in mind. Only in relatively recent times have cities and buildings been constructed on the assumption that they were safe from attack.

In Seattle, a new 20-story federal courthouse scheduled to open this summer comes with a thicket of cleverly hidden protection. A perimeter of sweet gum trees, concrete benches and stainless-steel bollards forms the first line of defense. Should a suicide car bomber smash through those, he would face two options: Try to ford a "waterlily pond" that doubles as a security moat, or navigate through a grove of 80 trees carefully staggered to prevent a vehicle from getting a clear shot at the main entrance.

Then there's the sunken sculpture garden, designed both to please the eye and trap a vehicle in the soft grass. Even the building's sign is part of the security system: Twenty feet long and made of stone, it forms part of the western perimeter.

"If something does happen and they're able to break through all that, they have to figure out how to get up 18 feet of steps," says Rick Thomas, the building's project manager.