“Meier 75,” includes drawings and models for three major projects—the Smith House in Darien, Conn.; the Getty Center; and the Jubilee Church, in a suburb of Rome—as well as three collage works by the architect Richard Meier. During a career spanning more than 50 years, Meier has placed his unique stamp on every type of architectural project, including private residences and housing complexes, corporate headquarters and commercial buildings, universities, seminaries, churches and museums. Inspired by the ideas and works of Le Corbusier and other early modernist architects, Meier sees a distinction between architecture and nature, viewing buildings as vessels through which one experiences the natural world. A highlight of the installation are two architectural drawings of the Getty Center, both of which are in the museum’s Drawings, Prints and Graphic Design Department. A model of the Getty Center accompanies the drawings. The installation includes the collage works “Libertas” (1998), “Max haus” (1998) and “Art” (1987), which offers a unique view into Meier’s architectural working process.
The Getty Center sits on a Los Angeles hilltop overlooking the San Diego Freeway. Meier based his design on one angle corresponding to the turn of the freeway and to two geological ridges that run through the site. According to Meier, the angle is “like two outstretched arms.”
