RICHARD MIEIER

RICHARD MEIER

Richard Meier (born oct 29,1997) is an American

abstract artist and architect, whose geometric
designs make prominent use of the colour white.

A winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in

1984, some of his more iconic buildings include
the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art and
the Getty centre in Los Angeles.

Life

Meier was born to jewish family the oldest of

three sons of jerome meier.

He earmed a bachelor of Architecture degree

from Cornell University in 1957.

Meier is also the cousin of architect Peter

Eisenman

career
In New York City, Meier worked for Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
briefly in 1959, and then for Marcel Breuer for three years, prior to
starting his own practice in 1963. In 1972, he was identified as one
of The New York Five, a group of modernist architects: Meier, Peter
Eisenman, Michael Graves, Charles Gwathmey, and John Hejduk.!
Early in his career, Meier worked with artists such as painter Frank
Stella and favored structure that were white and geometric.!
Much of Meier's work builds on the work of architects of the early to
mid-20th century, especially that of Le Corbusier and, in particular, Le
Corbusier's early phase. Meier has built more using Corbusier's ideas
[
]
than anyone, including Le Corbusier himself citation needed . Meier
expanded many ideas evident in Le Corbusier's work, particularly the
Villa Savoye and the Swiss Pavilion.

 His

work also reflects the influences of other designers

such as Mies Van der Rohe and, in some instances, Frank
Lloyd Wright and Luis Barragn (without the colour).
1984, Meier was awarded the Pritzker Prize.T jury citation
declared that Meier has "created structures which are
personal, vigorous, original. In 2008, he won the gold medal
in architecture from the Academy of Arts and Letters and
his work Jesolo Lido Village was awarded the Dedalo
Minosse International Prize for commissioning a building.
Meier is a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council. He
was awarded the AIA Gold Medal in 1997.In 2013 Richard
Meier was awarded the A+ Lifetime Achievement Award In
2010, Cornell established a new professorship named for
Meier.
In !

he

Phylosophy

White is the most wonderful color because within it you can see all the
colors of the rainbow. The whiteness of white is never just white; it is
almost always transformed by light and that which is changing; the sky,
the clouds, the sun and the moon.!
he says When I am asked what I believe in, I say that I believe in
architecture. Architecture is the mother of the arts. I like to believe that
architecture connects the present with the past and the tangible with
the intangible!
A Meier building is a sensuous experience before it is anything else. It
is an exploration of solid and void and light and texture, and an essay
on composition. Every Richard Meier building is visually
compelling...they are deeply beautiful.

Openness and clarity are characteristics that represent

American architecture at its best, and they are the principles
which I hope to bring to every design endeavor.
Meier says I believe that architecture has the power to
inspire, to elevate the spirit, to feed both the mind and the
body. It is for me the most public of the arts.

WORKS OF MEIER

Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art , Barcelona spain

Meier house, New jersey, 1965

The Atheneum in New harmony, indiana US

Museum of Television and Radio, Beverely hills California

High museum of art in Atlanta

Getty centre, Los Angeles

white plaza , Basel, Switzerland

Teachers village ,Newark ,New jersey

GETTY CENTRE

The Getty Center, in Los Angeles, California, is a campus of the Getty

Museum and other programs of the Getty Trust. The $1.3 billion
Center opened to the public on December 16, 1997 and is well known
for its architecture, gardens, and views overlooking Los Angeles. The
Center sits atop a hill connected to a visitors' parking garage at the
bottom of the hill by a three-car, cable-pulled hovertrain funicular.!
Designed by architect Richard Meier, the campus also houses the
Getty Research Institute (GRI), the Getty Conservation Institute, the
Getty Foundation, and the J. Paul Getty Trust. The Center's design
included special provisions to address concerns regarding
earthquakes and fires.! !
!Exploited the two naturally occurring ridges by overlaying two grids
along these axes.!

Along one axis : galleries


Along the other axis : administrative buildings.


The primary grid structure is a 30-inch square; most wall and floor elements
are 30-inch squares or some derivative thereof.

Six buildings on 124 acres (50 hectares) :!

!!Getty Conservation Institute!
!!Getty Education Institute for the Arts!
!!Getty Grant Program!
!!Getty Information Institute!
!!J. Paul Getty Trust, the Getty Research Institute
for the History of Art and the Humanities!
!!J. Paul Getty Museum! !
! It is architecture for the 21st centuryas imagined
in the early 20th century.!


There are no diversionary pediments and keystones, only suave geometries and rigorous details.



Richard Meier, designed the building in a way that it offers framed panoramic views of the city.

!There are no diversionary pediments and

keystones, only suave geometries and rigorous
details.!
!! Richard Meier, designed the building in a way
that it offers framed panoramic views of the city.!
! the most complex task imaginable, in it was
Mr. Meiers goal to design six separate
buildings, each with its individual purpose and
architectural identity, and yet to produce a
feeling of intimacy and coherence among them.!
!!The museum has a seven-story deep underground
parking garage with over 1,200 parking spaces.

the most complex task imaginable, in it was Mr. Meiers goal

to design six separate buildings, each with its individual purpose
and architectural identity, and yet to produce a feeling of intimacy
and coherence among them The 134,000-square-foot Central
Garden at the Getty Center is the work of artist Robert Irwin.

Throughout the campus, numerous fountains provide white noise

as a background



Five pavilions around a garden courtyard, interconnected by
walkways, some open air.!
! ! Frank Lloyd Wright is one of the gods from whom Meier claims
stylistic influence, and the basic form of this building a five- story
cylinder whose salient interior feature is a broad ramp that follows
the buildings curve as it descends suggests Wrights
Guggenheim Museum with the sides straightened and one large
slice of the layer cake removed.

MATERIALS USED! !

Stone beige-colored, cleft-cut, textured,

fossilized travertine catches the bright Southern
California light


Glass!
!!Concrete andsteel with eithertravertine
oraluminium cladding.!
Abstract collages of interlockingwhite-metal-clad
boxes and curved white-metal-clad walls, with
nothing but dark punched windows and steel stair
rails for exterior ornament.

BARCELONA MUSEUM OF
CONTEMPORARY ART

barcelona museum of
contemporary art

location :Barcelona spain

architecture style: modern architecture

year :1987-1995

Contextually responsive in its scale and orientation, this museum

plays a key role in restructuring the Gothic district of Barcelona.

Together with the Casa de la Caritat cultural center and a new

university building to the north of its sculpture court, the museum
helps to consolidate this new arts quarter within the broader
urban fabric.

Entry to the gallery space is through a cylindrical, top-lit gallery/

foyer leading to a glazed, triple-height ramp-hall that faces the
new Plaa dels ngels to the south.

This hall, together with an intermediate corridor paved in glass

block, enables the visitor to access six continuous loft-like
spaces on successive levels.

A semidetached wing at the eastern end of the

block accommodates additional gallery space
and the suite of curatorial offices.

The main galleries are partially lit from above, particularly at the
top of the building where the loft space is covered with louvered
skylights.

Some of the light from this source filters down via glass block
floors and open slots to illuminate the lower levels.

Where natural light enters from the south, it is screened in part

by the external louvers, by a number of freestanding screen
walls, and by the ramp.

Clad in white enameled-steel panels, the plaza elevation is

animated by the horizontal louvers of the ramp-hall and by two
plaster sculptural elements, a cut out plane above the entrance
and a free-form, top-lit special exhibitions gallery set in advance
of the building at the eastern end of the main faade.

The permanent collection of around 5,000 works (up from 1,100

works at the time of the museum's opening in 1995) dates from
the mid-20th century onward. There are three periods of modern
art represented: the first one covers the forties to the sixties; the
second spans the sixties and seventies; the third period is
contemporary. The collections focus on post-1945 Catalan and
Spanish art, although some International artists are also
represented.The permanent collection, as well as temporary
exhibitions, seek to exemplify the Foundations mission.
[8]

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In December 2007, the museum opened its Study Center,

enhancing the educational aspect which is integral to the
museums mission. The Library Reading Room and Special
Collections Room grant the public free access to the museums
books, publications collection, and archives.

MEIERS HOUSE

meiers house

location: New Jersey

year:1963-1965

architect: Richard meier

This house, a first commission in private practice,

It stands on a one-acre suburban lot in a typical

residential neighborhood of pseudo-colonial houses.

The owners wanted a one-story house.

The masonry bearing walls and their large glass openings

are capped with a wide parapet that encloses a roof
garden.

The brick walls block the building off from the street,
creating a sense of privacy; the interior looks out on an
enclosed courtyard, as well as a golf course on the
adjacent site.

The inset courtyard and curving brick walls which

extend beyond the building corners protect and
shape the views for privacy, and open the inside
of the house to light and the seasons through
skylights and clerestories.

Sunlight and shadow inundate the interior,

producing a sense of space and quietude.

The house turns inward, away from its suburban

neighbors. It is like an urban courtyard house,
reflecting the owners wish for privacy and
isolation.