There are many special areas in the new Bloch Building that allow for reflection and inspiration. One of them is the Isamu Noguchi Sculpture Court, a large, Zen-like space dedicated to the works of Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi.
One of the seven works by Noguchi featured in this space is Fountain, which was previously installed in Kirkwood Hall in 1999. For now, Fountain is covered with a sheet of plastic to contain the dust and dirt in the building.
Fountain is composed of two, asymmetrically sculpted basalt stones, similar in size but differing in subtle configurations of form. The top surface of one stone is concave, while that of the other is convex. The two stones gracefully rest on a bed of Japanese river rocks.
Water flows gently over the tops and sides of each stone, reflecting light, deepening the stones’ color and creating a meditative sound as it reaches the bed of river rocks below. In the Bloch Building, the bed of rocks continues from the inside of the building to the outside without interruption.