Essential Architecture- Search by architect
Richard Meier
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RICHARD MEIER
Samples of Richard Meier's life work:
(© ActiveRain Corporation)
Richard Meier at 49
(© Pritzker Architecture Award, the Hyatt Corporation)
Richard Alan Meier was born in 1934 in Newark New Jersey. Twenty-five
years later - after graduating from Cornell University’s Architecture
School, and after Cornell, working briefly for SOM - Meier
decided that the best mentor he could personally select was Swiss-born
architect, Charles-Edouard Jeanneret. Of course, most of us know
Jeanneret by the name he gave himself - ‘Le Corbusier' a spin on his
grandfather's name that resembled this French word for Raven.
To meet the great man, Meier would need to travel to Paris. Once there,
he intended to ask Le Corbusier if he could become an intern. And oh, by
the way, he would make this request with an attached offer that he
believed that Le Corbusier could not refuse – he would work for free.
"Absentee Mentor"
Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye
1928-31 Poissy, France
(© k+NAP)
Meier deliberately had not sent any written correspomdence nor made any
telephone calls in advance. He simply came to Paris to see Le Corbusier
unannounced, with all the power of a direct plea. But once he identified
himself as an American. Le Corbusier summarily told Meier that he, the
great Le Corbu', did not want anything to do with him, and that Meier
should pursue his craft with someone other than himself, preferably far
away from Paris.
You see, Le Corbusier at this time was angry about America, and by
extension, Americans of any stripe. He felt that America had blocked his
architectural projects proposed to the UN, for purely political reasons.
And he was also suspicious of any contact with Americans, since he
thought they had used these methods to sabotage his work elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Meier spent the next twenty-five years of his life, becoming
one of America’s greatest architects. By the age of 49, he was the
youngest architect to have ever received the prestigious Pritzker
Architecture Award - often called the Architectural equivalent of the
Academy Award. And from his first seriously recognized work, the
Smith House in 1963, until his largest commission, the J. Paul
Getty Center received in 1984, he was ironically categorized by many
as perhaps the greatest student of the Le Corbusier legacy still living.
Nearly all of Meier’s works, and he has been prolific since Smith
House, are sometimes thought by Architecture critics as endless
variations on the same theme. But like Brahms in music, what beautiful
variations he has spawned. His buildings are usually clad with something
rendered in white – such as painted metal, stucco, porcelain tile – with
the rest of it with glass. He uses liberally what the French call the
"brise de soleil" (external sun screens) when it suits his purpose, the
same as Le Corbusier. And he loves to use tubular railing on his
staircases and ramps, with the latter usually dressed in white, also
like Le Corbusier in his earlier efforts. Le Corbusier's work above,
whilst under the influence of "Purist" styling, a term that he and a
French painter coined for a new artistic aesthetic, illustrates the
fountainhead to Meier. Villa Savoye was built before Meier was
born, Meier's first significant home was completed just after Le
Corbusier's tragic death - compare-and-contrast the above with that
below and then tell us what you think about this subject:
Richard Meier’s Smith House
1965-67
Darien, Connecticut USA
(© k+NAP and © Yahoo geocities)
Meier does not deny his preference for white structures, nor does he
deny the influence of Le Corbusier’s ideas on his practise of
architecture. But he quickly adds that many other architects have
influenced him as well. Moreover, he insists that through his
experience, he has developed a unique way to move light through
structures, and hence, create space and order out of the resultant form
that reflect his personal vision. Smith House was voted,
twenty-five years after it was built, as one of the 31 most influential
buildings on modern architecture by the AIA - high praise for the
first work seriously considered of Meier.
- Zephyr (aka Brainwashed 1966)
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Richard Meier's Douglas House
1971-73
Harbor Springs, Michigan USA
On a steep and obviously isolated hill in the Michigan town of
Harbor Springs sits the Douglas House, one of my personal favourites
of Meier's private homes. It looks larger than it really is, because
of all the glass, but I can assure you its footprint is small, and
its multi-leveled "wedding cake" design is carefully executed to
anchor it on this hill:
House on a Hill - The "Public" Sector of the Douglas House
© k-NAP
The "public" sector of Douglas House - "public/private" are Meierian
expression - faces Lake Michigan. To get there, however, one must
drive, walk or cycle along a narrow road and enter on the eastern or
"private" side. That side looks like it is not part of the structure
at all, with few windows and the look of a white wall. This rear
entrance is actually to the roof of the building, via a “flying
bridge”. After descending into the building, which is essentially a
summer retreat, imagine relaxing in this interior space:
Douglas House - Interior
(complete with chairs that are designed by
Le Corbusier)
Closed Blind View from One Direction
View of Area from Reverse Direction with Blinds Raised
© flickr / joe83ltu on left, k-NAP on right
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More on Douglas House - the 'Private Side' exterior
Quote:
"So steep is the slope to the
water that the house appears to have been dropped
into the site, a machine-crafted object that has
landed in a natural world. The dramatic dialogue
between the whiteness of the house and the primary
blues and greens of the water, trees, and sky allows
the house not only to assert its own presence but to
enhance, by contrast, the beauty of its natural
environment as well."
— Richard Meier, Richard Meier, Architect,
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1976) |
We have already noted that the "front entrance" is seldom shown
on either the Smith or the Douglas House. Further,
that Meier prefers to call this side - the "private side" (or
"private sector," if there are two or more sides involved). Why
does he do that? Let's take two views of the Douglas House
on the private side:
Private Side of Douglas House:
left is entrance via the "flying Bridge"
right is view from that bridge on the
northeastern side
© flickr / joe83ltu
There is no attempt to dress this side up. For Meier, this is a
private side that is meant only for service and entry functions.
The flying bridge, which is a vaguely Medieval phrasing, evokes
the image of a moat and crossing into a protected castle.
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Below is a black-and-white view of the public sector, photographed
by the AIA. The house actually sits on a seamless pedestal,
that is the same width and depth of the visible part of the
structure. Those pipes you see are stainless steel, and are
connected to a white box because they are flues to a fireplace that
lies primarily within this white box.
Public Sector of Douglas House:
© AIA
Please review the top of the building, above, As reference points,
note that the roof deck has a single tubular bar for railing, and
the tops of the flues ascend beyond that rail before terminating.
With these references,you can easily transition to the closeup
pictures that follows:
Roof/Deck of House
© flickr / joe83ltu
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There are two sets of staircases - the interior staircase if you
look at the prior post's overview picture is on the left side;
the exterior staircase is on the opposite side. The staircases
are deliberately placed on the edges of the structure to avoid
any obstruction to Meier's directional viewing plan.
These photographs were made as the photographer came down two
storeys of the exterior staircase:
all images derived from: © flickr / joe83ltu
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Richard Meier’s The Atheneum
1975-79
New Harmony, Indiana USA
This museum is primarily lit with carefully screened natural light
within an open floor plan. The artwork is protected quite cleverly
by the spacing of floors above and below. Closeups reveal the
extraordinary white porcelain tile on the exterior of this
four-storey (see below), that sits on what I believe is a man-made.
terraced hill (don't quote me on this). Although I have never been
on its balcony, I understand that it allows you full 360-degree
access to the best view of New Harmony, and the nearby Wabash River.
New Harmony is NW of Evansville, if you are planning on traveling in
that area to see this building.
Richard Meier’s Graphite (Pencil) Draft of Exterior Aerial of "The
Atheneum"
(© 2007 Richard Meier and given as a gift to MOMA in NYC)
Two Views of "The Atheneum"
(© Columbia University NY, NY USA)
(©Wikipedia)
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Richard Meier’s J. Paul Getty Center
1984-97
Los Angeles, California USA
This is the most extensive project that Richard Meier had yet
undertaken, coming in the same year that he received his highest
honour – Pritzker Architecture Award. The massive layout of
buildings prompted him to combine his characteristic white
structures with those made of light coloured stone. The complexity
and pristine beauty were everywhere on display, as he spent a decade
and a half working on this masterwork.
top aerial © Wikipedia; multi-photo collage © epdlp;
remaining are © Reed College in Portland, Oregon USA
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Richard Meier's Iglesia del Jubileo (Jubilee Church)
1996–2003
Roma, Italia Europa
This building received AIA's highest Award, slightly over a year
after it was completed, in a depressed neighbourhood in Rome. To
quote their house organ, AIArchitect, from the January
2005 edition:
Jubilee Church, Rome
Richard Meier & Partners Architects, LLP,
for Opera Romana, la Preservazione delle fede e la
Provvista di Nuove Chiese in Roma
This church was conceived as a new center for an isolated
housing quarter outside central Rome. The triangular site is
thrice articulated: dividing the sacred realm to the south
from the secular precinct to the north; separating the
approach on foot from the housing to the east; and
separating the approach on foot from the parking lot to the
west. The paved sagrato to the east of the church extends
into the heart of the housing complex and provides a plaza
for public assembly. Christian symbolism is revealed
throughout the complex. The three concrete shells that, with
the spine-wall, make the body of the nave imply the Holy
Trinity. The pool reflects the role of water in Baptism. The
materials in the portico allude to the body of Christ’s
church while referencing the fabric of the adjacent
residential area. “A building with beauty from every side,”
noted the jury, and “a true focus for the neighborhood. The
church reveals spectacular daylight—dappled, dynamic,
kinetic, openness in spirit, yet a containment of the eye.
The quality of the light is breathtaking.”
And after two 2D graphics next, are a few of the many lovely
pictures that have been taken of this church, in the shadow of
crowded Roman area.:
2D Representations of location within housing projects (left) and
exterior front and rear (right)
Church as built from several exterior angles
Interior of Chapel: Floor to Roof
(© Richard Meier & Partners Architects LLP)
(© Wikipedia)
After competing against many of the world's finest architects
for this commission, including Santiago Calatrava Valls, the
news media informed Richard Alan Meier that he would now be the
first Jewish architect in history to design a church for the
Roman Catholic Church. And what is equally significant, it was
on the 2000th Anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ. Meier
underlined the fact that there were three Jewish architects that
competed (one of whom was Frank Gehry), and that each could have
won with their ideas and design. But he was honoured and proud
to be the first, and was well aware of the project's
significance despite the size of the actual church. Several
years later, in an architectural magazine he delivered, with
conviction, his take on another aspect of this project. I found
his answer both thoughtful and revealing:
Quote:
The goal of most religious
architecture is to convey spiritual power. How does
your design convey that kind of spirit?
Richard Meier:
Light is the protagonist of our understanding and
reading of space. Light is the means by which we are
able to experience what we call sacred. Light is at
the origins of this building. I am reminded of H.G.
Gadamer’s words in The Relevance of the Beautiful:
“We only have to think of certain expressions like
the ‘play of light’ and the ‘play of the waves’
where we have such a constant coming and going, back
and forth, a movement that is not tied down to any
goal. That the sense of freedom and movement – both
in human festivities, and also in natural phenomena
as the play of light – may be seen as fundamentally
theological.”
If you visit Borromini’s church (Chiesa di S. Ivo
alla Sapienza), you will experience a glorious white
interior filled with light and magic. It is one of
the great works of architecture of 16th century
Rome. Also, S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, also by
Borromini, has a quite animated interior.
In the Jubilee Church, the three concrete shells
define an enveloping atmosphere in which the light
from the skylights above creates a luminous spatial
experience, and the rays of sunlight serve as a
mystic metaphor of the presence of God.
The Jubilee Church is not a traditional church. If
the Vicariato wanted a traditional church, they
would not have invited me to participate in the
competition. This church was always intended to be a
work of contemporary architecture, meaningful for
our time and one that is marked by openness.
Transparency and light cascade down from the skylit
roof, literally invading the interior of the church
and also penetrating from below through a narrow
slot opened at floor level. People in the atrium are
enveloped with mystical light.
ArchNewsNow
October 23, 2003 |
I noticed the faint echoes of Alvar Aalto's Riola Parish
Church in both the interior and the exterior. The treatment
of light and the rhythm of the roofline, in particular, are
redolent of Riola. But the materials are all different,
and appear more fractured in Meier - the net effect is a more
contemporary look. Finally, the use of this type of highly
processed, rather than raw concrete, is singularly stunning. The
latter makes any possible béton brut reference to Le
Corbusier, either unwarranted, or at least outdated.
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One of Richard Meier's earlier refinements to his museum designs,
prior to Getty Center project, was High Museum in
Atlanta. No, it was not a tribute to drug paraphernalia, it was
named after its major sponsor - Harriet High
:
Richard Meier's High Museum of Art
1980-83
Atlanta, Georgia USA
All above © Richard Meier & Partners, except last row
right - © flickr / evele79
All after last photo credit © Bluffton University /
Douglas Miller
Quote:
The extended ramp is a symbolic
gesture reaching out to the street and city, and a foil
to the interior ramp which is the building's chief
formal and circulatory element. At the end of the ramp
is the main entry and reception area, from which one
passes into the four-story atrium. The light-filled
atrium space is inspired by, and a commentary on,
the central space of the Guggenheim Museum. As in the
Guggenheim, the ramp system mediates between the central
space and the art itself. In the Guggenheim, however,
the ramp doubles as a gallery; in Atlanta, the
separation of circulation and gallery space allows the
central space to govern the system of movement. This
separation also allows the atrium walls to have windows
which admit natural light and offer framed views of the
city.
From the official website of Richard Meier & Partners
(Bolding added) |
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After eight years of work, the Camden Medical Centre was
finally opened in Singapore. This round tower was an interesting mix
of recessed window ribbons and reverse taper, and that mix got mixed
reviews. Below are several views of a 3D model, one with a fairly
convincing backdrop. This is followed by two photographs of the
completed structure, slightly distorted by the lens and further by
the angle.
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Five Architects who became ‘The New York Five’
In the late 1960s in New York City, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
brought together the work of five would-be Architects, all of whom had
no particular uniformity, but were placed into the same ...
circumstance. Looking back to this time, one prominent observer stated
that all the Architects involved were “scarcely known,” but indicative
of the success of the exhibit, they would collectively be known ... as
“The New York Five.” This ... mis-labeled group, ...[has] since become a
high-water mark in Architectural history, and for several reasons … To
the extent that Architects are known to the ... public... , these five
men were [still] fairly obscure, but within this group, at least three
were in the process of ‘becoming’ ...
Richard Meier and Michael Graves ... were a mere three months apart in
age, Graves was the elder … Meier was making a name for himself with
Smith House, which was a seminal work in his early career. His
signature ‘white style’ in ... homes began with that commission, but
Meier had deeper roots invested in ‘white’ that went back to Le
Corbusier. … Graves was not yet the ‘Post-Modernist’ we think of today,
but rather a vaguely aligned ‘fellow traveler’ as ... (one person)
disdainfully commented. … In 1964, Graves had established a practise in
the same town as he taught – Princeton, New Jersey – but his ambition
was greater than just the nearby community. … Money was a strong
motivator for Graves, it led to a change in style to attract future
patrons, this was the beginning of a pattern for him over the next
decade. ...
{The third} was the brilliant Peter Eisenman, the budding
Neo-Deconstructivist, who was known more for his theories about
architecture than his actual work in architecture. Eisenman
published frequently in professional journals, and occasionally outside
them, with his elaborate interior designs that were often left
unrealised apart from the image in print. Eisenman was on a path that
few dared to explore ... he went so far as to state that exteriors
themselves were secondary ... "These (Eisenman interiors) look more like
Escher prints than architectural spaces," according to one [observer].
...
The remaining two of The New York Five – Charles Gwathmey and John
Hejduk – were not only lesser known, but if one were to inspect the
publications of that period, their names were sometimes left out
entirely from The New York Five … There were instances where Gwathmey’s
models are confused with Hejduk ... Of the two, Gwathmey emerged, over
time, as the much talked about talent behind Siegel + Gwathmey;
Hejduk, on the other hand, became more a teacher than an Architect ...
and he lapsed into obscurity.
In 1972, a small book with the simple title of Five Architects,
was ... published. Materials were specifically drawn from the exhibition
at MoMA. … It was a poorly designed book with ... an unpolished look.
First editions of this book, resembled mimeographed assemblages found in
Universities for "internal use only." … A close friend of Meier, the
English-born Colin F. Rowe … Architecture Professor at Cornell, was in
this period, the 'Modernist' counterpart to Vincent J. Scully, the Art
and Architecture Professor at Yale. Rowe eventually wrote what some
called one of the more “uninspired” introductions to an important book …
Rowe published infrequently, but his influence was widespread ... He
eventually abandoned the Modernist cause, and with his abandonment, the
friendship he had with Meier faded noticeably. ...
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The white house (is there any other kind?) that Meier designed for
Howard Rachofsky sits on a dark granite podium. The landscape consists
of a pool made to look like an abstract pond and grass that is raised
and lowered in squares and rectangles. Inside are standard Meier
staircases, but then there is also a floating spiral staircase that
surrounds a supporting post. There is a bridge on the second floor where
the low-profile railing is covered with transluscent frosted glass that
suggests a Far Eastern screen divider. The bathroom is the starkest of
any he has created - white on white with white silver faucets (since
changed).
Richard Meier's Rachofsky House
1991-96
Dallas, Texas USA
Exterior

 
©: flickr / fran1825; geocities; Richard Meier &
Partners; and where noted on the photograph
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Interior


 
Above courtesy of flickr / Hila Ben Avraham, geocities, and
Richard Meier & Partners

Courtesy flickr / J0N6
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If you were unaware of Le Corbusier connexion to Richard Meier, you
would be completely puzzled by the next structure, which contains
what many have labeled "The Silo". But even if you were aware of
this tie, you may not be instantly clued into the lesser known work
to which this is an homage.
More on that in a later post.
Richard Meier's
Federal Building and United States Courthouse
1993-2000
Islip, New York USA
Left - courtesy arcspace; right - © Scott
Frances/Esto[/i]
Courtesy archidose / © Richard Meier &
Partners
Courtesy AIA Archiblog / © Richard Meier &
Partners
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Below we have a second reference in Meier's work to what was initially
labeled "The Silo". The execution here is far more complex,
structurally. The function of this silo is more clearly defined, in that
it is a second entrance to the museum for those that come by rail.
Richard Meier's
Hans Arp Museum
1978-2007
Rolandseck, Deutschland
Sketches, Plans and Models
Above © arcspace.com /
Two sketches at top, and two drawings on the next row are courtesy
Richard Meier & Partners Architects LLP
Above © arcspace.com / Three models Jock Pottle
Completed Structure
Inside Glimpse
Getty Images
Outside Orientation

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Below is another abbreviated segment from a larger essay
written some years back (1). Citations have been excluded. (Part One is
located in
Post # 13 of this thread.)
Quote:
"Architects can no longer
afford to be intimidated by the puritanically moral language
of orthodox modern architecture. I like elements which are
hybrid rather than 'pure,' compromising rather than 'clean,'
distorted rather than 'straightforward,' ambiguous ... and
equivocal rather than direct and clear. I am for messy
vitality over obvious unity ... I am for richness of meaning
rather than clarity of meaning."
Robert Venturi |
Meier vs. Stern - The Great Divide begins
One year later in 1973, Five On Five became the book that
directly challenged Five Architects. This was the beginning of
the ‘Post Modernist versus Modernist Debate' – Grays versus Whites –
that took place across several venues from print to live-discussion. If
Richard Meier could be considered the reluctant lead of The New York
Five, Robert Stern seized the lead of the opposition. None of this
occurred in isolation... in the critical period prior to Five On Five,
in which the battle took form, there were several indications of a
coming break...
Meier and Stern had known each other ... before. Just after he received
his Master of Architecture degree from YSOA, Stern was hired by Meier to
work as a designer at his fledgling firm. … Ultimately, Stern’s tenure
was brief, but one can speculate that Stern had been predisposed to be
at odds with Meier’s views prior to coming to Meier’s firm.
While at Yale, … Stern … attended several classes that exposed him to a
different way of thinking. … The venerable (Art and Architecture
Historian Vincent J.)... Scully, provided (him) … with a thoroughly
acceptable raison d’etre for questioning the dominant
‘International Style’. … Scully often compared and contrasted Frank
Lloyd Wright to Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier from the main
European schools that made-up the International Style. … Stern appeared
to have listened carefully based on his reminiscing about his years at
Yale. ... Stern was also aware of Robert Venturi's musings on the role
of history and imperfection versus the quest for rules and pure form
that characterised the European Architects of that loosely labeled
‘style’... This was apparently interpreted then and later as a rigid
approach to Architecture by this growing American school of
interpretation …
Meier’s words and imagery in this period could have been drawn directly
from Le Corbusier’s Vers une Architecture (...Towards An
Architecture) - meaning in this case a new type of Architecture -
published back in 1923. Like the great man himself, Meier used such
equivalents as: role of light in defining space, the use of contour and
surface as the latter two related to perception of mass... Above all,
Meier declared that decorative ‘appliqués’ were out in his firm.
… Stern was not amused by these positions, as evidenced by what he
communicated to his friends at that time … Stern refuses to speak
publicly on these matters today ...
Who were the authors of Five On Five? …. Like the "big three" of
the Five Architects, there was a corresponding big three within
the Five On Five: Robert Stern, Charles Moore and Jaquelin T.
Robertson. Of these latter three, Robert Stern was the most formidable
in the debate format. …
The man that labeled them ‘The New York Five,’ according to Meier, was
New York Times Architecture critic Paul Goldberger. … Goldberger
became a friend of both Meier and Stern, finding himself in the middle
of the debates between the so-called Modernists and Post Modernists; he
was often uncomfortable with both. …
Another who was in the middle was Philip C. Johnson. Johnson practised
on both sides of the debate in his career, and was torn between his
positions and his genuine desire to befriend, what he called “my kids”.
... Stern and Meier, who were on starkly opposite sides, did not seem
bothered by Johnson’s 'flip-flops,' nor did Johnson become an enemy when
he suddenly appeared on the other side of Meier or Stern. … A darker
side to Johnson was his anti-Semitism. ... Both Meier and Stern were
Jewish, and were well aware of Johnson’s views, but neither outwardly
challenged him nor distance themselves – it was a curious acceptance of
the aging Johnson as a product of his times, although it certainly was
not an excuse …
Quote:
"American architecture is
going all over the place, like pellets sprayed from a
shotgun. ... You cannot evoke the past by simply taking
historical symbols ... What does it mean to put a Roman arch
over someone's house in Connecticut? Nothing. Architecture
has to do with the totality of the building, not the
application of illiterately assembled elements."
Richard Meier (2) |
____________
- Please note that these included quotations - highlighted at
the top and bottom of this post - were never used in the original
essay.
- Robert Venturi's quotation earlier, made this
counter-balancing quotation inevitable. I am well aware that this
same quotation, from Richard Meier, is also used in the "15 Central
Park West" thread, elsewhere on WNY.
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