Noguchi Playscape Restored and Reopened

[Cynthia Gentry]

On May 1, 1976, the Noguchi Playscape opened in Piedmont Park in Atlanta. Over 30 years later on June 1, 2009, the beautiful playground reopened after years of arduous planning and restoration work. -- The Japanese-American artist Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) designed many important playgrounds in his career, but this one was the only one built during his lifetime. It is not only an important piece of art, but a fun place where Atlanta's children have played for decades.

The back side of the slides.

Samples of paint were removed from all of the play structures and microscopically analyzed to reveal the original colors which were then used in the restoration.

Gudmund Vigtel, long-time head of Atlanta's High Museum of Art, was honored at the ceremonies as the one who not only came up with the idea to hire Isamu Noguchi to design this playscape, but also as the one who made it happen.

Pat Katz, Landscape Architect for the City of Atlanta Parks Design Department and Amy Landesberg, an artist and an architect on the Noguchi restoration project