Richard Meier
Early Life and Education
Richard Meier was born on October 12, 1934, in Newark, New Jersey. He grew up in a middle-class Jewish family in the nearby town of Maplewood. His father was a wholesale wine and liquor merchant.
He attended Columbia High School, where he was a classmate of the actor Roy Scheider. After graduating, he enrolled in Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning. He was a talented student, and he received his Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1957. At Cornell, he was influenced by the work of Le Corbusier, who would become a major and lasting inspiration for his own architectural work.
After graduating, he traveled in Europe for a year, where he had the opportunity to see the works of the early modern masters firsthand. He returned to the United States in 1959 and went to work for the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). He worked at SOM for a year and then went on to work for the modernist architect Marcel Breuer. He worked with Breuer for three years and was deeply influenced by his rigorous and sculptural approach to design.
In 1963, at the age of 29, Meier established his own architectural practice in New York City. His early work consisted of a series of small, residential projects, which allowed him to develop and refine his own unique architectural language.
In the late 1960s, he became associated with the “New York Five,” a group of five New York-based architects (the others were Peter Eisenman, Michael Graves, Charles Gwathmey, and John Hejduk) who were all committed to a pure and rigorous form of modernism. The group’s work was characterized by its white, geometric, and highly abstract forms, and it was seen as a continuation of the work of the early modern masters, particularly Le Corbusier.
Architectural Philosophy and Career
Richard Meier’s architectural philosophy is a consistent and unwavering commitment to the principles of modernism. He is one of the most famous and successful architects of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and his work is a powerful and elegant expression of the enduring vitality of the modernist tradition.
His philosophy is rooted in a deep belief in the power of architecture to create a sense of order, clarity, and beauty in the world. He is a master of light, space, and form, and his work is characterized by its geometric precision, its spatial complexity, and its use of a limited and refined palette of materials.
Meier is best known for his use of the color white. For him, white is not just a color, but a symbol of the purity, clarity, and perfection of the natural world. He believes that white is the ideal color for architecture because it reflects and intensifies the changing colors of nature and the changing quality of the light.
His work is a sophisticated and personal reinterpretation of the work of the early modern masters, particularly Le Corbusier. He has taken Le Corbusier’s “Five Points of a New Architecture” and has developed them into a rich and complex architectural language of his own. His buildings are often characterized by their use of pilotis, free facades, ribbon windows, and roof gardens.
Meier is a master of creating complex and dynamic spatial experiences. His buildings are often a collage of different grids and geometries, with a series of interlocking and overlapping spaces. He uses ramps, bridges, and staircases to create a sense of movement and procession through his buildings.
He is also a master of light. He uses skylights, light courts, and large expanses of glass to bring natural light into the heart of his buildings. He is interested in the way that light can dematerialize form and create a sense of transparency and weightlessness.
Meier’s career has been a long and successful one, and he has worked on major projects all over the world. He has remained true to his own unique vision, and his work has been a consistent and powerful counterpoint to the changing fads and fashions of the architectural world.
In 2018, Meier’s career was disrupted by allegations of sexual harassment from a number of women who had worked for his firm. In response to the allegations, he took a six-month leave of absence from his firm, and the firm has since been reorganized and rebranded as Meier Partners.
Notable and Famous Works
Richard Meier’s portfolio includes some of the most iconic and celebrated buildings of the late 20th century.
The Getty Center (1997) in Los Angeles is his most famous and ambitious work. The massive, 110-acre cultural complex is located on a hilltop overlooking the city, and it includes a museum, a research institute, and a conservation institute. The buildings are a complex and beautiful composition of travertine stone and white-enameled metal panels, and they are set in a series of gardens and terraces. The project took over a decade to complete and is a masterpiece of modern design and construction.
The High Museum of Art (1983) in Atlanta, Georgia, was his first major museum commission, and it established him as a major international architect. The building is a pure and elegant composition of white, porcelain-enameled panels and glass, with a dramatic, light-filled central atrium.
The Smith House (1967) in Darien, Connecticut, is one of his most famous and influential early houses. The house is a simple, white, geometric form that is set in a dramatic, waterfront landscape. The house’s clear distinction between its public, open, glass-walled front and its private, closed, cellular back has been a recurring theme in his residential work.
The Douglas House (1973) in Harbor Springs, Michigan, is another of his iconic houses. The house is a pure, white, multi-story volume that is perched on a steep, wooded hillside overlooking Lake Michigan. The house is a dramatic and heroic statement of modernist principles.
The Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) (1995) in Barcelona, Spain, is one of his most important European projects. The building is a large, white, luminous building that is inserted into the dense, historic fabric of the city’s Raval neighborhood. The building’s dramatic, light-filled atrium and its long, ramp-like gallery have made it a popular and successful public space.
The Jubilee Church (2003) in Rome is one of his most expressive and sculptural works. The church is a complex and beautiful composition of three, free-standing, concrete shells that are meant to evoke the image of a ship’s sails.
Awards, Honors, and Legacy
Richard Meier has received numerous awards and honors for his work. In 1984, at the age of 49, he was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize. The jury citation praised him for his “single-minded pursuit of his own vision” and for his “contribution to the art of architecture.”
He has also received the AIA Gold Medal in 1997 and the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1989.
Meier’s legacy is that of a true master of modernism. He is one of the most important and influential architects of his generation, and his work is a testament to the enduring power and beauty of the modernist tradition.
He has created a new and highly personal architectural language, one that is both rigorous and poetic, both rational and beautiful. He is a master of light, space, and form, and he has created some of the most memorable and inspiring public and private spaces of our time.
While his work has been criticized by some for its perceived coldness or for its lack of engagement with the social and political issues of the day, his supporters see him as a true artist who has dedicated his life to the creation of a pure and timeless form of architecture.
He is an architect who has remained true to his own unique vision, and his work is a powerful and consistent statement of his belief in the power of architecture to bring order, clarity, and beauty to the world.