Designed by world-renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, symbolic of democratic values and inspired by five rings of the Olympics representing our world
The sculpture was designed by Kengo Kuma and was inspired by the five rings of the Olympics that represent our world and five elements of the nature. This highlights equality and secularism, the common values that are at the core of both the French Republic and Maharajah Ranjit Singh’s Kingdom of the Greater Punjab (1801–39). As France’s gift of Statue of Liberty to America stands for all of the humanity, similarly, our objective is to show that Global Citizen values are universal to all nations from the East or the West. The Japanese design of Ryoan-ji rock garden comes through this very contemporary minimalist design. We have tried to build a design that takes inspirations from all concerns of the world to make it a truly global space.
The Glass and water concept of the sculpture allow us to build a global image in a very transparent way. Water is the major part of our world. Water is strong and very fluid; water is used around the world for rejuvenation etc. Thus, we have chosen this sculpture concept to launch the Global Citizen Education initiative. The Sculpture will serve as the public space to promote the annual theme based on the Phrase of the Year. The objective is to build sustainable global society through engaging the world on issues that will lead us to creating a just and sustainable world. Each year, 10 Phrases are selected as finalists by a jury and showcased at our annual one day conference: The State of the Community. The Phrase will become brighter as the discourse on the Phrase builds around the world through education, research and civic engagement projects.
