Tasked with countering a dramatic 60-story skyscraper designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Noguchi designed a circular sunken garden below the surface of the nearly block-long plaza alongside it. Noguchi had seven natural stones (transplanted from the Uji River in Japan) set on a modulated surface of cream-colored granite and interspersed with water elements and (initially) small shrubs. He would later refer to the commission as “my Ryoanji,” an homage to the renowned temple garden in Kyoto, which, similarly, can be viewed only from a distance.