Meier was born in Newark, New Jersey. He earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University in 1957, worked for Skidmore, Owings and Merrill briefly in 1959, and then for Marcel Breuer for three years, prior to starting his own practice in New York in 1963. Identified as one of The New York Five in 1972, his commission of the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California catapulted his popularity among the mainstream.
Much of Meier’s work builds on the work of architects of the early to mid-20th century, especially that of Le Corbusier and, in particular, Le Corbusier’s early phase. Meier has built more using Corbusier’s ideas than anyone, including Le Corbusier himself[citation needed]. Meier expanded many ideas evident in Le Corbusier’s work, particularly the Villa Savoye and the Swiss Pavilion.
Getty Center, Los AngelesHis work also reflects the influences of other designers such as Mies Van der Rohe and, in some instances, Frank Lloyd Wright and Luis Barragán (without the colour). White has been used in many architectural landmark buildings throughout history, including cathedrals and the white-washed villages of the Mediterranean region, in Spain, southern Italy and Greece.
In 1984, Meier was awarded the Pritzker Prize, and in 2008, he won the gold medal in architecture from the Academy of Arts and Letters.
The Mayor of Rome Gianni Alemanno included in his campaign platform a promise to tear down the big travertine wall of Meier’s Ara Pacis.
Meier is also the second cousin of the architect, theorist, and fellow member of The New York Five, Peter Eisenman.
Works
Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art
The Atheneum in New Harmony, Indiana, United States.
Museum of Television and Radio, Beverly Hills, California
Ara Pacis Museum, RomeOne Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, NY, 2003-2008
University of Scranton, Connolly Hall, 2007
Ara Pacis Museum, Rome, Italy, 2006 (There has been talk of dismantling and relocating the museum since the election of Gianni Alemanno in 2008)
The Atheneum, New Harmony, Indiana, 1979
Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona, Spain, 1995
Bronx Developmental Center, The Bronx, New York, 1976
Camden Medical Centre, Singapore, 1998
White Plaza, Basel, Switzerland, 1998
City Hall and Central Library, The Hague, The Netherlands, 1995
ECM City Tower, Prague, Czech republic, 2004-2007
Daimler-Benz Forschungszentrum, today: Daimler Forschungszentrum, Ulm, Germany, 1992
Douglas House, Harbor Springs, Michigan, 1973
Edinburgh Park masterplan, 1995
Frieder Burda Museum, Baden Baden, Germany, 2004
Getty Center, Los Angeles, California, 1997
Crystal Cathedral Welcoming Center, Garden Grove, California, 2003[6]
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, 1983
Jubilee Church, Rome, Italy 2003
Weill Hall, Ithaca, New York, 2008
Meier Tower, Tel Aviv, Israel (2008-present)
Modern Art Wing Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa, 1984
Museum of Television & Radio, Beverly Hills, California, 1996
Rachofsky House, Dallas, Texas, 1996
Sandra Day O’Connor United States Courthouse, Phoenix, Arizona, 2000
San Jose City Hall, San Jose, California, 2004-2007
Smith House, Darien, Connecticut, 1965-1967
Stadthaus, Ulm, Germany, 1994
Architecture 365 