Richard Meier, Architect, Vol. 3: 1992-1998 - Softcover

Meier, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0847820483 ISBN 13: 9780847820481

Publisher: Rizzoli, 1999

Synopsis

The third in a series of Rizzoli monographs on Richard Meier, this volume comprehensively documents the numerous and varied works created since 1992 by one of America's most important architects and a winner of the Pritzker Prize for Architecture.

This extensively illustrated presentation, designed by Massimo Vignelli, conveys the purity and power of Meier's celebrated work. Twenty-three projects in all are featured, including federal buildings and courthouses in Islip, New York, and Phoenix, Arizona; the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art; the Museum of Television and Radio in Beverly Hills; the Church of the Year 2000 in Rome; and the widely acclaimed Getty Center in Los Angeles.

The development and significance of Richard Meier's work is discussed in two essays by the distinguished architectural historians and critics Kenneth Frampton and Joseph Rykwert. A postscript by Arata Isozaki, a biographical chronology, and a selected bibliography complete the monograph.

About this title

Review:

While architectural styles keep changing, Richard Meier is a rock of constancy, holding fast to the forms and principles of classic 20th-century modernism. His pristine white buildings, precise and articulated, proclaim that rationality and clarity still have the power to impress us in an age of unfettered stylistic experimentation. Others may seize the role of Dionysus, but he is content to be Apollo.

This is the third installment of a series of monographs on Meier's architecture; the first volume was published in 1985. It records 23 works designed or completed between 1992 and 1999. The best known of these is the legendary Getty Center in Los Angeles, but that billion-dollar Wagnerian extravaganza has not distracted Meier from turning out many other impressive structures of large and small scale, including the Hague City Hall and Central Library, the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Rachovsky House in Dallas. Two-thirds of the projects are in Europe or Asia, suggesting that America may not be taking full advantage of this native son's abilities.

This large-format, square book is handsomely assembled, with 444 pages and more than 650 well-reproduced color and black-and-white photos and finely honed line drawings. Essays by architectural historians Kenneth Frampton and Joseph Rykwert and a postscript by architect Arata Isozaki--all major figures in their fields--provide valuable analysis that completes this impressive volume. --John Pastier

About the Author:

Richard Meier received his architectural training at Cornell University and established his office in New York City in 1963. Since that time, his international practice has included museums, courthouses, city halls, corporate headquarters, educational facilities, and public housing in addition to private houses. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Pritzker Prize for Architecture and the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects.

Kenneth Frampton is Ware Professor of Architecture at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. Joseph Rykwert is Paul Philippe Cret Professor of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania.

About this edition

• Publisher: Rizzoli
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0847820483
• ISBN 13: 9780847820481
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432