ARCHITECTURE: Richard Meier
At the age of 49, Richard Meier (12/10/1934- ), was the youngest architect to receive his profession’s highest accolade, the Pritzker Architecture Prize (1984). Shortly after receiving that honor, he was awarded what is probably one of the 20th century’s most important commissions, the design of The Getty Center in Los Angeles. “I’ve experienced Rome since I was a student there in 1955 and at the American Academy in 1976. It is a place that I have spent time in, loved and absorbed. It never occurred to me that I would someday build in Rome. It didn’t seem that it was in the realm of possibilities”- Richard Meier.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Museum Angewandte Kunst Archive
On 25 April 1985, Frankfurt’s Museum Angewandte Kunst, moved into the Richard Meier building in Schaumainkai 17 Street. On the occasion of its 13th year in these quarters, the Museum is presenting a cabinet exhibition entitled “Richard Meier. A Style Room”, which is more than a design exhibition. The visitors can learn what historical references the architect drew on for his plans, what early 20th century design examples did he look to for orientation, and what cultural contexts of the ‘80s underscore his approach. “. For his work he said: “Le Corbusier was a great influence, but there are many influences and they are constantly changing. Frank Lloyd Wright was a great architect, and I could not have done my parent’s house the way that I did, without being overwhelmed by Falling Water. We are all affected by LeCorbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Alvar Aalto, and Mies van der Rohe. But no less than Bramante, Borromini and Bernini. Architecture is a tradition, a long continuum. Whether we break with tradition or enhance it, we are still connected to that past”. Meier graduated from Cornell University (B.A., 1957) in Ithaca, New York. His early experience included work with the firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill in New York City and with Marcel Breuer, a noted exponent of the International style of architecture. In 1963 Meier formed his own firm. Early on he received critical acclaim for the Smith House (1967) in Darien, Connecticut, the first of his so-called white buildings, which clearly built upon the pristine Modernism of Le Corbusier’s work in the 1920s and ’30s. During this period he formed a loose association with a group of young architects, known as the “New York Five,” who advocated a return to Modernist, rational architecture. He received more attention for his Douglas House (1973), an archetypal example of his work, located in Harbor Springs, Michigan. Like much of his work, it features intersecting planes, and, in its crisp geometric whiteness, it provides a sharp contrast to the natural setting that surrounds it. Building upon the success of his series of spectacular private residences, starting in the mid-1970s Meier began to receive large public commissions, including the Atheneum (1979) in New Harmony, Indiana; the Museum of Decorative Arts (1985) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany; the High Museum of Art (1983) in Atlanta, Georgia; the City Hall and Library (19895) in The Hague, Netherlands; and the Museum of Contemporary Art (1995) in Barcelona, Spain. These structures are characterized by geometric clarity and order, which are often punctuated by curving ramps and railings, and by a contrast between the light-filled, transparent surfaces of public spaces and the solid white surfaces of interior, private spaces. Indeed, they all embody Meier’s description of his goals: “I am expanding and elaborating on what I consider to be the formal base of the Modern movement.…I work with volume and surface, I manipulate forms in light, changes in scale and view, movement and stasis.” Although some critics have found these structures too austere and reminiscent of past architectural achievement, others have applauded their formal beauty and welcomed their purity in the midst of the often jumbled forms of postmodernist architecture. From 1985 to 1997 Meier focused much of his attention on the Getty Center in Los Angeles. Comprising six principal buildings that house the Getty collection and educational facilities, the centre is built of honey-coloured travertine complemented by aluminum panels. The multiple purposes of the complex—from public galleries to private study rooms—gave Meier a chance to explore the contrast between public and private spaces as never before, and its positioning in the hills of Los Angeles allowed Meier an optimum opportunity to explore the effects of light. The structure has become a popular tourist destination. Another of Meier’s Los Angeles projects is the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Center (2008), the home of the visual arts program on the north campus of the University of California, Los Angeles. His structures from the 2010s included a number of commercial buildings; single-family homes; residential towers; the extension to the Gagosian Gallery (2010), Beverly Hills, California; the United States Courthouse (2012), San Diego; and several buildings for Teachers Village (2017), Newark, New Jersey, a mixed-use complex comprising three charter schools, housing for teachers, and retail space. In March 2018 Meier announced that he was taking a six-month leave from his firm after five women—four of whom had worked for him—accused the architect of sexual harassment. He issued a statement suggesting that he remembered the situations differently from his accusers but apologized for offending anyone with his behaviour. In an interview several months later, Meier denied the accusations and asserted his leave was because of health reasons. In October Meier’s office declared that he was stepping down from his leadership role, and in 2021 it announced his retirement. The firm was restructured and renamed Meier Partners.
