Art, as we so often experience it, stands behind a thick wall of glass, a velvet rope, or a motion detector that beeps loudly when you get just a little too close. Herman Miller Cares, a philanthropic branch of George Nelson’s historic furniture brand, Herman Miller, Inc., urges us to forget the rules with a restoration of Isamu Noguchi’s Playscape, designed for Atlanta’s Piedmont Park in 1976. This is art you can touch.

The Japanese-American Noguchi understood that some of the most important art lived outside the confines of a traditional museum, often blending seamlessly with its environment and interacting with the individuals in its presence. He explored this idea through furniture design, public sculpture, and commissions like Playscape.

"We’re in a day and age where people walk around with their heads in their devices," says Margo Milligan, an Atlanta native and a product application specialist at Geiger Intl. "Public artworks like this cause people to look up, and heighten their awareness and ability to connect with their neighbors."

By repainting the curls and lines of the abstracted cast-concrete-and-steel playground, funding additional signage, and arranging a serious cleanup, the group restored the brilliant modernist forms to their original glory, inviting art enthusiasts of any age not only to touch but to run, jump, and play.