The grey tower seen from low down behind it: a tapering shaft on a square base with a squat pyramid at each corner, crowned by box cameras on brackets aimed out in every direction.

Big Brother Tower

A brutalist monument with one staring eye and 14 security cameras aimed every way. Walk all the way round it and something is always looking at you.

0 lenses facing you

Stand at the foot of the steps

The big ringed eye is aimed straight down the stairs, and a camera on each corner of the crown is angled in at you. The squares mark every lens that has you in view.

Step to the side

The eye loses you here. The cameras on this flank do not: each one sits on its own bracket, angled out and a little down, like a lamp post that watches.

Go round the back

Most monuments have a back where nobody looks. This one has two cameras, one above the other, aimed squarely at it, and two more keeping the corners.

Keep walking

The far side mirrors the near one. Wherever you stop, at least one lens is already pointed your way.

Only the sky is safe

Straight overhead is the one place no lens reaches. From up here the plan shows: 14 cameras in 3 tiers, the middle tier turned half a step so its cameras look through the gaps in the other two.

Back where you started

Face to face with the eye: three stepped rings around a faceted pupil, set in an octagonal frame at the very top of the shaft.

There is no blind side

Seen from above, every line is where one lens points: 14 cameras and the eye between them cover 12 directions around the tower. The widest gap between two neighbouring lines is 40°, so walk all the way round it and you are never more than 20° off something's line of sight.

The eye A camera

Up close

Close view of the grey tower's crown from the front: an octagonal frame holding three stepped rings and a faceted pupil, ringed by box cameras on short posts, with a smaller dome below.
The eye: three stepped rings and a faceted pupil in an octagonal frame. The cameras crowd in around it on short posts, and a smaller dome sits just below.
The base of the tower from the front right: three steps rise between two sloped buttresses to a plaque reading BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, with squat pyramids at the corners of the square base.
Three steps climb between sloped buttresses to the plaque, its words cut into the face. Squat pyramids hold the corners of the base.
The crown of the tower seen from behind: box cameras on short brackets point back, out and down in stacked tiers around a squared column.
From behind, the crown is just as busy: cameras on short brackets point back, out and slightly down, one tier stacked over another.

Big Brother Tower

Size
5.0 × 4.4 × 7.5 in
Weight
7.4 oz
Cameras
14, in 3 tiers
Eye
One, facing the steps
Inscription
Big Brother is watching you