RICHARD MEIER
RICHARD ALAN MEIER
LIFE HISTORY-
Richard Alan Meier is an American abstract artist and architect
whose work of architecture is noted for its geometric patterns,
rich spatial exposures with emphasis on light and a dominance of
the use of white colour that gives the structures a pristine look.
He follows the principles of the Classic Modernist Architecture.
He was born on October 12, 1934 in Newark, New Jersey, in a
Jewish family.
He was raised in the suburban township of Maplewood where he
studied at the ‘Columbia High School’.
In 1957 he completed his ‘Bachelor in Architecture’ from ‘Cornell
University’ in Ithaca, New York and thereafter toured many
countries including Germany, Italy, France, Greece, Denmark and
Israel in pursuit of developing network with the other architects.
COLUMBIA
HIGH SCHOOL
AND CORNELL
UNIVERSITY
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Richard_Meier
CAREER-
In 1959, when he was touring Europe, he tried to get a job
in the office of his early inspiration Le Corbusier in Paris, but
since Corbusier would not hire any American, he was rejected.
He returned to New York and joined Skidmore, Owings and
Merrill in 1959, where he worked for a while. Thereafter he
worked for three years with Marcel Breuer.
While he worked as an architect during the day time, at night
he used to delve into abstract expressionist paintings. He also
shared a studio with painter Frank Stella, one of his close
friends.
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Richard_Meier
In 1963, he set up his own office in New York. He also
started teaching at ‘Cooper Union’, which he continued till
1973.
Few of his earlier works that got him critical acclaim and
significant attention are the ‘Smith House’ in Darien, Connecticut
and ‘Douglas House’ in Harbor Springs, Michigan. While the
former is first white building, the latter is a quintessential
illustration of his style of work.
He interacted with the ‘Conference of Architects for the Study
of the Environment’ (CASE) group that included discussions of
other’s works, this lead to the book,‘Five Architects’ in 1972.He
was recognised as a member of the modernist architects group,
‘New York Five’ that included a particular set of architects.
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wiki/Richard_Meier
DOUGLAS HOUSE
SMITH HOUSE
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DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
Richard Meier usually resists the trend-based designs, instead
developing his own design philosophy rooted in rationalism and
the use of color white. His designs are the Neo-Corbusian
style, referencing the famous French architect's early phase in
particular.
Richard Meier is well known for his abstracted, often white,
buildings and unrelenting personal design philosophy.
The absence of color is an intrinsic characteristic of his works,
his philosophy is grounded in using light as the main material
to give form to his orderly, sculptural, and linear architecture.
Refines his principles of geometrical progression by playing with
structure, space and elements of formal precision.
“The way that light traverses and cuts through buildings is the
interrogative and the principal magic from where Richard Meier’s
projects are born,” stated by Frank Stella.
Meier is the best known of the group for his use of white in
his designs, which he believes enhances the qualities of light in
space: ‘Whiteness allows the architectural ideas to be
understood most clearly—the difference between opacity and
transparency, solid and void, structure and surface.They have a
greater clarity.’
In his works, the focus is centered on the aesthetic elements of
the architecture, but what makes his work innovative is not
solely the visual element of his work but also his process and
psychology shape a unique perspective that is embodied in his
architecture.
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Richard Meier’s architecture has a pattern which has a
particular set of features.
1.Form- He mainly uses the basic shapes in the abstract style
and gives a unique form and shape to the building.
2.Colors- He uses white dominantly in his buildings.
3.Materials- White Alucobond with Glass was used for the
functional and aesthetics purpose.
4.Lighting- He designed his buildings in such a way that the
light brings life to the building and also the natural light is
being utilized to the maximum.
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Richard_Meier
‘White is the most wonderful color,
because within it you can see all the
colors of the rainbow. The whiteness of
white is just not white; it is almost always
transformed by light and that which is
changing; the sky, the clouds, the sun
and the moon.’
-Richard Meier
WORKS
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AWARDS AND ACHIVEMENTS -
At the age of 49, Richard Meier was the youngest architect to
receive his profession's highest award , the Pritzker Architecture
Prize. After receiving that honor, he was awarded for the twentieth
century's most important commissions, the design of The Getty
Center, the Los Angeles art complex funded by the J. Paul Getty
Trust.
Richard Meier: Architizer Lifetime Achievement Award Winner.
Architizer announced Richard Meier as its 2013 Lifetime
Achievement Award winner.
Pritzker Architecture Prize – 1984
Royal Gold Medal – 1988
AIA Gold Medal – 1997
Twenty-Five Year Award – 2000 and 2008
American Academy Of Arts And Letters Gold Medal - 2008
AIA National Honor Awards – 1968, 1974, 1975, 1977
AIA New York Chapter Awards – 1971, 1982
Arnold Brunner Prize – 1972
Progressive Architecture Awards – 1979
American Institute Of Architects Medal – 1980
AIA National Awards – 1985, 1987, 1990
Guild Hall Lifetime Achievement Award – 1991
Ministry Of The Culture Of The French Republic – 1992
American Academy Of Arts And Sciences – 1995
Praemium Imperiale – 1997
American Institute Of Architects – 2000
Pratt Legend Award – 2004
AIA Los Angeles Chapter Award – 2006, 2007
President’s Medal – 2009
GSA Design Award - 2010
1.THE PRITZKER
AWARD
2.THE PRESIDENT’S
MEDAL
3. ARCHITIZER LIFETIME
ACHIVEMENT AWARD
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LIST OF WORKS -
Ara Pacis
Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art
City Tower
Des Moines Art Center
Getty Center
High Museum Of Art
Hartford Seminary
Jubilee Church
Paley Center for Media
New Harmony's Atheneum
Sandra Day O'Connor United States Courthouse
Smith House
Douglas House Source:https://www.richardmeier.com/
San Jose City Hall
Arp Museum
Meier on Rothschild
SandraDay O'Connor US Courthouse
Edinburgh Park Masterplan
Stadthaus Ulm
Weishaupt Forum
Museum fur angewandte Kunst
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Analysis of the philosophy
Richard Meier follows the Modern Architecture style of
architecture. Modern architecture, or modernist architecture was
based upon new and innovative technologies of construction,
particularly the use of glass, steel and reinforced concrete; the
idea that form should follow function (functionalism); an embrace
of minimalism; and a rejection of ornament.
Richard Meier used only one color, white for the interiors and
the exteriors. But in present days, there is use of many vibrant
colors and also there are 3D printed interiors. The use of
materials are totally different.
The buildings of both the times are aesthetically pleasing in
their own way.
MODERN ARCHITECTURE-
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CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE-
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Barcelona Museum of
Contemporary Art
The Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) is
a contemporary art museum situated in the Plaça dels Àngels,
in El Raval, Ciutat Vella, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
Appears massive, bright, white, pristine and inviting, contrasting
starkly with the rather down-at-heel surroundings.
The choice to build the museum in the Plaça dels Ángels is
consistent with Meier’s vision to situate the building amongst
some of Barcelona’s oldest streets and buildings, in addition to
revamping the public space of the Raval.
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The first thing noticed about The Barcelona Museum of
Contemporary Art is the contrast it makes with the surrounding
city. Modernism style of architecture.
The entry to the gallery space is through a cylindrical, top-lit
gallery/foyer leading to a glazed, triple-height ramp-hall that faces
the new Plaça dels Àngels to the south. This hall, together with
an intermediate corridor paved in glass block, enables the visitor
to access six continuous loft-like spaces on successive levels.
The main galleries are partially lit from above, particularly at the
top of the building where the loft space is covered with louvered
skylights.
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Clad in white enameled-steel panels, the plaza elevation
is animated by the horizontal louvers of the ramp-hall
and by two plaster sculptural elements, a cut out plane
above the entrance and a free-form, top-lit special
exhibitions gallery set in advance of the building at the
eastern end of the main facade.
The Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art was also
known as ‘Pearl Of Raval’ because of its immaculate
whiteness and its imposing structure.
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The form of the museum was basically conceived as a white
rectangular prism with a base of 120 x 400 feet and a height
of 77 feet. The overall geometry of the museum is determined
by a structural module of 24 ft x 24 ft regulating the
centerlines of the main structures and the circular columns.
The discussion of the symptoms of aesthetics for architectural
forms has to inspect if the exemplars are dense and replete.
Therefore, this section explores the form of Barcelona Museum
of Contemporary Art according to three interrelated aspects:
exemplification, semantic and syntactic density and repleteness.
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FLOOR
PLANS
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JUBILEE CHURCH
The Jubilee Church, formally known as Chiesa di Dio Padre
Misericordioso (Italian for Church of God the Merciful Father), is
a Catholic church and community center in Tor Tre
Teste in Rome. It"the crown jewel of the Vicariato di Roma's
(Archdiocese of Rome) Millennium project. The Church serves
eight thousand residents of the Tor Tre Teste area and was
meant to socially "revive" Tor Tre Teste.
The Church's site is divided into four main parts: first, the
precinct, including the church and community center; second, the
northeast terrace; third, the northwest recreation court; fourth, the
west parking area. The site is flat and is in triangular shape.
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Designed to look like a ship, the south side of the church
features three large curved walls of pre-cast concrete. Meier
claims to have designed the church to minimize thermal peak
loads inside. The large thermal mass of the concrete walls
control internal heat gain; the result is less temperature variation,
and supposedly more efficient use of energy.
The walls also contain titanium dioxide to keep the appearance
of the church white. When the titanium dioxide absorbs ultraviolet
light, it becomes powerfully reactive, breaking down pollutants
that come in contact with the concrete. The plan is basically
traditional, with a nave, altar, side chapel and confessional
booths.
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meier/
The project consists of two elements: the church itself and
the parish center, consisting of offices, an auditorium and a
multipurpose hall.
The most distinctive feature of the new Jubilee Church is the
three curved shell walls. The chapel is composed of three
walls curved like sails of a boat, and which symbolizes “the
ship sails in which the people of God.” Three circles of equal
radius are 3 layers together with the opposite wall are the
body of the ship. “All discreetly refers to the Trinity”.
Jubilee Church is constructed from traditional Roman travertine
and white, marble-like concrete.
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Direct sunlight doesn’t enter the church, but there are a series
of glass skylights between the shells and over the main space,
which are lit by sidelights, creating changing patterns of light
and shade on the interior.
A prism located in the fenestrations of the altar and inclined
planes used to achieve an indirect lighting, recalling the effect
of the church of Notre Dame du Haut.
The opposite wall is covered with candles slats of wood, which
gives warmth to space.The furniture in a simple and abstract,
is integrated into the language of the church. The altar, made
in travertine marble, makes reference to the boat again.
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PLANS
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SMITH HOUSE
The Smith House was planned starting in 1965 and completed in
1967 in Darien, Connecticut, and overlooks the Long Island
Sound from the Connecticut coast. It is 2,800 square-foot.
Located on a hillside, the volume is a white prism that emerges
among the trees creating a stark visual contrast. The back side is
treated as a closed facade with small openings, the front face is an
open facade with large glass panels offering sweeping views of the
horizon.
The land’s foundation was almost entirely rock, and excavation costs
would put the project’s budget over the top. Instead, Meier opted to
extend vertically instead of horizontally, so that it would be both
more cost-effective and more spatially interesting, given the rocky,
coastal landscape.
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He created a programmatic separation between public and private
areas. This is also how the house maintains some element of
enigmatic mystery and surprise.
The street-facing side of the house, where visitors enter, appears
as an unassuming opaque white box punctured with dark glass
openings. This is the private side of the house, encompassing a
series of ‘closed, cellular spaces.’
To enhance the house’s spaciousness and height, Meier framed the
open façade at the back such that a visitor’s vision is bounded
only by the sky above and the water right at the bottom.
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The public sector consists of three levels nestled within a three-sided
glass enclosure; from the outside, the ground and upper levels appear
as solid slabs held fast in the white mullions of the glass shell.
Suspended between the chimney and the steel structural columns, the
glazed wall creates a subtle tension that draws the occupant across the
living space to the outside. "The balustrades of the lower and upper
levels are set back from the glass, amplifying that tension.”
The solid front elevation belies the transparency in the back, where vast
sheets of glass are set within a restrained number of white
mullions."The dramatic view of sea and sky that greets one upon
entering is framed and intensified in the transparent skin of the rear
facade."
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The circulation system that guides the movement through the house
extends far beyond the limits of the building itself. The vertical
movement is the stairwell located within the area enclosed room.
The main materials used in the construction of the Smith House are
wood and glass, with structural steel columns in the conservatory
area and brick fireplace. Large glass walls allow subtle reflections
and light changes, according to the whims of nature.
The most favourite aspects of the house is the extreme precision
that is represented in both its design and construction.
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PLANS
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CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE
BUILDINGS
BARCELONA JUBILEE SMITH
MUSEUM OF CHURCH HOUSE
CONTEMPORARY
ART
GENUS LOCI The Barcelona The Jubilee Church The Smith House
Museum of conceived as part of was built in Darien,
Contemporary Art is Pope John Paul II’s Connecticut beside
the contrast it millennium initiative a water body and
makes with the to rejuvenate parish close to nature.
surrounding city. life within Italy, is
located outside
central Rome.
SITE PLANNING, Contrasting starkly The triangular site is Foundation was
LANDSCAPE with the rather articulated three almost entirely rock.
ELEMENTS down-at-heel ways: first, dividing Grass and trees
surroundings. the sacred realm to were dominant.
Minimal amount of the south. Grass and
vegetation. shrubs.
BARCELONA JUBILEE SMITH
MUSEUM OF CHURCH HOUSE
CONTEMPORARY
ART
MATERIALS USED Pristine white The materials are Wood and glass,
aluminum panels, glass, stucco, Roman with structural steel
glass, stucco, and travertine, white columns.
granite. concrete and wood
panelling.
CONSTRUCTION Cylindrical, top-lit The proportional Series of closed,
TECHNIQUES gallery/foyer leading structure of the cellular spaces,
to a glazed, triple- entire complex is private areas,three
height ramp-hall. series of squares levels behind an
and four circles. opaque facade.
AESTHETICS Appears massive, The most distinctive Located on a
bright, white, and feature of the new hillside, the volume
inviting, contrasting Jubilee Church is the is a white prism that
starkly with the three curved shell emerges among the
rather down-at-heel walls. There are trees creating a
surroundings. three curved walls. stark visual contrast.
BARCELONA JUBILEE SMITH
MUSEUM OF CHURCH HOUSE
CONTEMPORAR
Y ART
SPACE QUALITY Cut out plane The interior of the Programmatic
above the entrance church is as separation between
and a free-form, impressive as its public and private
top-lit special exterior is areas.
exhibitions gallery spectacular. The light
set in advance of bathes the walls of
the building at the the space curves.
eastern end of the
main facade.
RELATION WITH Does not require Long white square is It is located near to
ENVIRONMENT artificial lighting at preparing to receive a water body and
day times. parish. The place is also has rocky
calm and has region in the
maximum utilization surroundings.
of natural light.
BARCELONA JUBILEE SMITH
MUSEUM OF CHURCH HOUSE
CONTEMPORARY
ART
USER There is natural light There is a sense of There is privacy for
REQUIREMENTS and proper calm and peace for the users and the
ventilation for the the place and also guests should have
display of the arts. long ailes for open space but also
circulation. be restricted at few
points.
CONCLUSIVE Being a public It is a place of There is proper
REMARKS space, it has a calmness and the privacy for the user
maximum use of exteriors as good as and the spatial
natural light and the interiors. organization all
interaction of around.
spaces.
TAKE AWAYS -
Richard Meier’s style was defined not only by the consistent use of flat,
white walls and geometric shapes but also by his rational use of space,
providing spacious interiors flooded with natural light. He made sure to
satisfy both the functional use of the building and also the aesthetics of
the building.
Richard Meier gave an interesting form to the building with the use of
basic shapes. The use of abstract art in architecture has helped him give
a unique character to the building.
Richard Meier has always had a strong vision and stuck to his themes
and philosophy. He never copied and has not always gone with the trend
setting designs. He also broke the taboos of architecture.
Richard Meier gives equal importance to both the interior and the
exterior. He believes that they go hand in hand. He says that a design
which has longevity is considered as a great design.
Connectivity plays an important role and the spaces used to
connect any particular places should be designed properly and
the area should be utilized well.
Richard Meier uses white as the pre-dominant color for his
buildings. By using only one color, he brings out the unique
character of the building and also the aesthetics are very
pleasing.
‘Quality of architecture gives life to the city’.
The design of the buildings should allow you to appreciate the
nature that’s around you.
Using white will make you aware of colors of nature. The
design of the buildings should go with the nature.
Spatial experience is very important part of architecture.
BIBLIOGRAPHY-
https://www.richardmeier.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Meier
https://www.dezeen.com/tag/richard-meier/
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Meier
https://www.usmodernist.org/meier.htm
https://www.designboom.com/tag/richard-meier/
https://blog.miragestudio7.com/richard-meier-quotes/6808/
http://www.avenuemagazine.com/richard-meier/
THE END
RISHIKA BOORUGU
17091AA020
