A Proposal for a UN Playground

Andrew Raimist, of Architectural Ruminations, has some terrific images of Isamu Noguchi's unbuilt UN playground uploaded to his Flickr account here.

On the unrealized project, Raimist writes: “Noguchi designed this playground for a portion of the United Nations complex on the East River in New York. The project was to be privately funded and located on property given a special international diplomatic designation. Nevertheless, Robert Moses (the authoritarian director of public works for the City of New York) was able to get the project canceled. Moses was Noguchi's arch-nemisis in NYC having ridiculed his design for Play Mountain back in 1933. He continued to thwart any public park of Noguchi's design from ever being constructed in New York. I believe Moses criticized this design as 'dangerous' and little more than a 'rabbit warren'.”

A UN playground is anything but for children and innocent play, it would seem.



Meanwhile, Raimist has uploaded images playground equipment models, also designed by Noguchi.



And a few images of another unbuilt project, the Memorial to the Dead of Hiroshima, which Raimist discusses in three excellent posts. Go see.



For these and other projects, it's best to buy Isamu Noguchi: A Study of Space by Ana Maria Torres.

via Pruned