Getty Center, Los Angles

Situated on a spectacular 110-acre hilltop, commanding dramatic views of the Los Angeles basin, the Santa Monica mountains and the Pacific ocean, emerges a complex unlike any of its kind: The Getty Center. The Getty Center is a campus comprised of six principal buildings housing the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Trust offices, an Auditorium, The Getty Conservation Institute, The Getty Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities, The Getty Education Institute for the Arts, The Getty Information Institute, The Getty Grant Program and a Restaurant/cafe. The Center will provide a central location for the Getty's growing collections and educational programs.

Richard Meier & Partners was selected in 1984 as Architect for this prestigious and unique commission

With its golden light and brilliant blue sky, southern California provided the unique opportunity and the freedom to relate interior space to exterior space, to create a relationship between architecture and landscape and to focus on the concern with building and garden. The Museum as the primary public destination will respond to this opportunity; it will be a place which is both introverted, in that its spaces are conducive to the contemplation of works of art, and that it is also extroverted in that its organization allows the visitor to experience this unique place. Upon ascending the steps to the entrance plaza of the Museum, visitors will be presented with an array of choices, either to enter the building to look at art, or to explore the gardens.
The Museum Lobby is a tall, cylindrical space opening to the Museum Courtyard as well as leading to a series of 5 gallery pavilions. These small pavilions break down the scale of the Museum into easily comprehensive clusters, each with its own inner courtyard. The visitor can be taken on a chronological journey of the Getty collections, with paintings occupying the top floor to take advantage of the natural top light. Decorative Arts, Illuminated Manuscripts, sculptures drawings and photographs will be housed in ground level galleries, shielded from the sunlight.