TITLE:
Moerenuma Park in Sapporo, Japan: Isamu Noguchi’s Chef-d’Oeuvre
AUTHORS:
Vladimir J. Konečni
KEYWORDS:
Isamu Noguchi, Moerenuma Park, Sapporo (Hokkaido, Japan), Glass Pyramid in Moerenuma Park, I. M. Pei’s Louvre Pyramid, Aesthetics in Architecture and Design, Social Psychology of Architecture and Design, Social Use of Architectural Objects
JOURNAL NAME:
Art and Design Review,
Vol.4 No.3,
July
28,
2016
ABSTRACT: Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988), a Zen-influenced modernist, is considered to be one of the most important
American sculptors and designers of the twentieth century. Moerenuma Park in Sapporo
(Hokkaido, Japan, completed in 2005) can be justifiably regarded as both the summation of his
prior work and his swan song. In this analysis of Moerenuma Park, various aesthetic, architectural,
design, and social-psychological matters are addressed. Particular attention is devoted to Noguchi’s
care about the social aspects of use by visitors of the most important architectural object in
Moerenuma Park, the Glass Pyramid. A comparative reference is tentatively made in this regard to
I. M. Pei’s Pyramid at the Louvre (1989).