Isamu Noguchi at Lever House: The Unrealized Courtyard, Revisited

Lever House at 390 Park Avenue is hosting a long-running show on a project that never got built: Isamu Noguchi's 1952 plan for the building's courtyard, plaza and lobby. Organized with The Noguchi Museum, it runs from September 14, 2026 through August 31, 2027.

Gordon Bunshaft's Lever House, completed in 1952, was the city's first commercial office tower with a glass-and-steel curtain wall. Bunshaft wanted its public courtyard to be more than a forecourt, a place where sculpture and landscape could not be separated, and he turned to Noguchi (1904–1988). Drawing on the white sand gardens of Kyoto, Noguchi developed two proposals. The first set a pristine marble plane around a shallow reflecting pool, with three biomorphic granite forms rising from it, abstract figures of father, mother and child. The second grew into a fuller landscape of water, planting, voids and sculptural elements, including a tribute to Brancusi's Endless Column.

Neither was realized, yet the project shaped what followed: sculpture as landscape, public space for contemplation and play, natural materials inside modern architecture. It also began a lasting working relationship between the two men.

The core of the show is Noguchi's model for the Lever Brothers garden, shown in one of Bunshaft's original lobby vitrines with architectural drawings and archival photographs. Around it are sculptures that carry the ideas forward: the marble Bird B (1958), directly inspired by the commission; Noh Musicians (1958) in painted aluminum; Mountains Forming (1982–83) in hot-dipped galvanized steel; the bronze plate 2=1 (1988); and a Karatsu stoneware Daruma (1952). Outdoors on the plaza, Octetra (1965/2021) and Play Sculpture (c. 1965–80) work as both abstract sculpture and play equipment.

A special Akari presentation, including the 21-lamp Akari Cloud, lights the lobby corner facing Park Avenue, marking the 75th anniversary of Akari in 2026. The show is organized by Jacob King, who oversees Lever House's art program, and curated by Hitomi Iwasaki and Matthew Kirsch of The Noguchi Museum, in collaboration with BGRE, WatermanCLARK and White Cube.

The lobby is open Monday to Friday 7 am–8 pm and Saturday 8 am–1 pm, closed Sunday. The courtyard and plaza are open around the clock.