Richard Meier

Richard Meier , 1934-, American architect, b. Newark, N.J., educated at Cornell Univ. During the 1960s, he was a member of the New York "Five" or "white" architects, a group that emulated the early International style . In such projects as the Smith House in Darien, Conn. (1965-67), Meier paid homage to the villas of Le Corbusier while at the same time carefully integrating his buildings into their natural environments. He has successfully adapted his characteristic design aesthetic to the larger scale of public buildings in such works as the extremely sculptural High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Ga. (1983). The international and public character of his work is evident in many of his later commissions: the Canal Plus building, Paris (1993); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona (1995); the Paley Center for Media, Beverly Hills (1996); the Getty Center , Brentwood, Calif. (1997), a six-building arts complex often called his masterpiece; the Courthouse and Federal Building, Central Islip, N.Y. (2000); and the "Jubilee" Church, Rome (2003). Meier is also a sculptor and has created works of cast and welded metal.

Meier, Richard Alan (1934– ). American architect, he worked with Breuer and Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill before setting up on his own in NYC (1963). The most prolific of the New York Five, his persistent use of white in his buildings (e.g. the Saltzman House, East Hampton, NY (1967–9), and the beautifully sited Douglas House, Harbor Springs, MI (1971–3)), led to the group's nickname ‘The Whites’. His public buildings attracted much attention, including the Atheneum, New Harmony, IN (1975–9); the Museum für Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt-am-Main (1979–84); the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA (1980–3); the City Hall and Central Library, The Hague, The Netherlands (1986–95); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona (1987–95); and the huge Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, Los Angeles, CA (1984–97). The last, likened in complexity to the Villa Adriana, Tivoli, is one of the most ambitious of his projects. More recently he designed the Jubilee Church, Tor Tre Teste, in an inauspicious part of Rome (1996–2003).

Bibliography

Blaser (1996b);
Cassara (1995);
Kalman (1994);
Flagge & Hamm (eds.) (1997);
Frampton et al. (1975);
F&Ry (1993–7, 1999);
L. Green (ed.) (1999);
Jodidio (1993, 1995, 1995b, 1996, 1997);
Klotz (1988);
Meier (1984);
Meier et al. (1996);
Pettena (ed.) (1981a)