Piedmont Park

This guide to Piedmont Park in Atlanta follows sculptor Isamu Noguchi's decades-long attempt to build a playground, starting with a 1933 pitch to New York called Play Mountain that was rejected, then a proposal for Ala Moana Park in Hawaii, then repeated attempts back in New York through the 1960s, all turned down. It traces how officials kept failing to see a jungle gym as art, and what Noguchi meant when he called a playground a primer of shapes and functions. You'll hear about the blue and green climbing blocks, spiral tower, and stepped swings pulled from his earliest rejected designs. Walk the paths bordering the play space to see how the sculpture reads from a distance.