Background On Richard Meier
Richard Meier was born on October 12, 1934 in Newark, New Jersey. He is an influential, contemporary American architect known for his rationalist designs and the use of the colour white.
Richard Meier received his architectural training at Cornell University and established his own office in New York in 1963. His practice has included major civic commissions including courthouse and city halls in the United States and Europe; museums; corporate headquarters; housing and private residences.
With admirable consistency and dedication, Richard Meier has ignored the fashion trends of modern architecture and maintained his own design philosophy. Meier has created a series of striking, but related designs. He usually designs white Neo-Corbusian forms with enameled panels and glass. These structures usually play with the linear relationships of ramps and handrails. Although all have a similar look, Richard Meier manages to generate endless variations on his singular theme.
Architecture through the eyes of Richard Meier
The three of the most significant concepts of Richard Meiers work are Light, Color and Place. His architecture shows how plain geometry, layered definition of spaces and effects of light and shade allows Meier to create clear and comprehensible spaces. The main issue Meier is focusing on as an architect is what he termed placeness: "What is it that makes a space a place." According to Richard Meier there are ten factors that connect a building to its environment, one or more of which must be presented for a space to be an
place: factors which cause the Mode of Being; those which emphasize the presence of the building as an independent object; factors which emphasize the presence of the building in its given environment; those which encourage fantasy and play; factors which encourage ecstatic exuberance; factors which preserve a sense of mystery and adventure; ingredients which connect us to reality; those which link the building to its past; facilitate spontaneous exchanges; and affirm people's identity.
Awards and Prestige
In 1984, Mr. Richard Meier was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize, considered the field's highest honor and often equated with the Nobel Prize. In the same year, Mr. Richard Meier was selected architect for the prestigious commission to design the new $1 billion Getty Center in Los Angeles, California.
In 1997 Richard Meier received the AIA Gold Medal, the highest award from the American Institute of Architects, and in the same year, the Praemium Imperiale from the Japanese Government in recognition of a lifetime achievement in the arts. He is a Fellow of the AIA, and received a Medal of Honor from the New York Chapter of that organization in 1980 and a Gold Medal from the Los Angeles Chapter in 1998. His numerous design awards include 29 National AIA Honor Awards and 51 New York AIA Design Awards.
In 1989, Richard Meier received the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects. In 1992, the French Government honored him with Commander of Arts and Letters and in 1995 he was elected Fellow to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has received honorary degrees from the University of Naples, New Jersey Institute of Technology, New School University, Pratt Institute, and the University of Bucharest.