Isamu Noguchi’s Japanese Garden in the Paris UNESCO Headquarters

Abstract

In the Japanese Garden of the Paris UNESCO Headquarters, Isamu Noguchi captured his abstract vision of the world, revealing the relationship between space and matter. The use of the concepts of type, topos and tectonic guided this intervention – initially sculptural – towards an architectural presence, thanks to the coherence of its formal structure, its symbolic topography and its concrete materialization. This convergence allowed for the reconceptualization of the enclosed garden’s design, managing to transcend the aesthetic and the functional in favor of sensory experimentation throughout the space.