Richard Meier

Richard Meier was born in 1935 in Newark, New Jersey. Received his architectural training at Cornell University ; and then went on to study and work under the likes of Davis, Brody, and Wisniewski, Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, and Marcel Breuer. He was a member of the New York which included Michael Graves, Peter Eisenman, Charles Gwathmey, and John Hejduk. He was influenced by the early work of Le Corbusier and this influence can be seen in all of his work.. Meier established his own practice in 1963, in New York. His practice has included housing and private residences, museums, high-tech and medical facilities, commercial buildings, and such major civic commissions as courthouses and city halls in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Explaining his own roots, Meier says, "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." Meier continued, "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. We evolve."

Meier designs with an extraordinarily concise architectural vocabulary which includes both residential and commercial design. His signature style has warranted him with an identity not to be confused with any other. With an awesome composition and praiseworthy loyalty he creates structures which make bold statements. With an ever present consistency he incorporates shifting grids, facade panels, and contrasting shapes harmoniously.

The muscular designs are cubic and conjure thoughts of surreal high-tech wonderlands; which consist of simple forms that are pure and clean. The visual scale of the buildings is quite powerful and this scale alludes to the volumes of space within. These large voids of space are framed by large expanses of glass which allow for plenty of light to enter and also provide spectacular views. With an understanding of proportion and scale he develops spaces with confidence and class. With elementary forms in hand Meier molds complex volumes and envelops divine spaces. Through manipulation of form, space, and light.

Meier creates contemporary buildings. He once said......
"I manipulate forms in light, changes of scale and view, movement and stasis....architecture is the thoughtful making of space, space that we exist in, move through, and use. Spatial ideas are the oxygen of the universe. My concerns have been and continue to be about spatial constructs. However, when I speak of space it is not in the abstract, for my work is always related to light, human scale, and the culture of architecture."

The use of white enamel panels and plenty of glass are a part of Meier's unmistakable signature style. An aesthetic pureness achieved through the use of the color white is a characteristic almost always present in his works; there are only a handful of his designs that have not been clad in white. The reoccurring color white may make it seem that Meier's work is bland and rather boring, but Meier add contrast and resolution by layering vertical and horizontal elements. The sculpting of fractured grids is an art that he has.

"The color white is inevitably an excellent device, which in most context separates the building from its ground. The porcelain panels, too, have an unscathed aspect, which makes the building a luminous object, even under a gray sky. Whiteness is one of the characteristic qualities of my work; I use it to clarify architectural concepts and heighten the power of visual form. It is against white surfaces that one best appreciates the play of light and shadow, solids and voids. For this reason white has traditionally been taken as a symbol of purity, clarity, and of perfection."

In 1984, Mr. Meier was awarded the Pritzker Prize, considered the field's highest honor. In the same year, Mr. Meier was selected as Architect for the prestigious commission to design the new Getty Center in Los Angeles.
In 1989, Richard Meier received the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects. He is a Fellow of the AIA, and received a Medal of Honor from the New York chapter of that organization in 1980. His numerous design awards include 12 national AIA Honor Awards and 31 New York AIA Design Awards, as well as the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize for the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. In 1990, Mr. Meier was elected to the Belgian Royal Academy of Art; in 1991, he received an Honorary Doctorate degree from the University of Naples. The French Government honored Mr. Meier in 1992 as a Commander of Arts and Letters, and in 1995, he was elected Fellow to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.