Making Architecture: The Getty Center

The Getty Center, on a 110 acre hilltop in west Los Angeles, is the new home for the Museum, the five Institutes, and the Grant Program that make up the J. Paul Getty Trust. This study documents the planning and construction of the Center, designed by Richard Meier and Partners. Included are a series of essays that underscore the challenges faced by architect, contractor and owner as they worked collaboratively throughout the course of the project, and a chronology which identifies the key dates and events in the design and construction process. Illustrated with images by accomplished photographers, site drawings from Richard Meier and Partners and Robert Irwin's drawings of the Central Gardens, which he designed, the book presents an insider's view of the story behind the making of the Getty Center. Essays are included by Richard Meier, Stephen D. Rountree and Ada Louise Huxtable.

Ada Louise Huxtable was architecture critic at the "New York Times" from 1963 to 1982. Among the books she has written are "Classical New York" and "Pier Luigi Nervi".

Richard Meier's first book, Terrain Vague, was selected by Tomaz Salamun for the Verse Prize and published by Verse Press in 2001. He lives in Orfordville, Wisconsin and teaches at Columbia College Chicago.