Visual art / Architecture & design
Isamu Noguchi
1904–1988 · sculptor, landscape architect, designer
Japanese-American sculptor who shaped Hart Plaza on Detroit's riverfront and created its Dodge Fountain and 120-foot Pylon.
- Born
Los Angeles, California- Died
New York City, New York
aged 84- Birth name
- Isamu Gilmour
- Detroit years
- 1970s–1981
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Noguchi, famous for his sculpture, Akari lamps and furniture, took on one of his largest public commissions in Detroit in the 1970s. Hart Plaza, the civic square at the foot of Woodward Avenue on the Detroit River, was developed by Smith, Hinchman & Grylls with Noguchi and his collaborator Shoji Sadao shaping its design. It opened in 1975 and was dedicated to Senator Philip Hart in 1976. At its center Noguchi placed the Horace E. Dodge & Son Memorial Fountain, a ring of stainless steel raised on two angled legs, from which programmed jets of water pour down; Anna Thompson Dodge left one million dollars for it in memory of her husband and son. Nearby rises his Pylon, a 120-foot twisting stainless-steel shaft. The plaza is Detroit's main festival ground, home to the Movement electronic music festival and the city's riverfront celebrations, which keeps Noguchi's design at the heart of Detroit's public life.
Highlights
- Co-designed Hart Plaza on the Detroit riverfront (opened 1975)
- Horace E. Dodge & Son Memorial Fountain, funded with $1 million from Anna Thompson Dodge
- The Pylon, a 120-foot stainless-steel spiral in Hart Plaza
- Hart Plaza hosts Detroit's major festivals, including Movement
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1970s–1981
African World Festival
The riverfront plaza he helped design, with his Dodge Fountain and 120-foot stainless-steel Pylon.