Meier, Richard (mī`ər), 1934–, American architect, b. Newark, N.J., educated at Cornell Univ. During the 1960s, he was a member of the New York "Five" or "white" architects, a group that emulated the early International style International style, in architecture, the phase of the modern movement that emerged in Europe and the United States during the 1920s. The term was first used by Philip Johnson in connection with a 1932 architectural exhibition held at the Museum of Modern Art, New
..... Click the link for more information. . In such projects as the Smith House in Darien, Conn. (1965–67), Meier paid homage to the villas of Le Corbusier Le Corbusier (lə kôrbüzyā`), pseud.
..... Click the link for more information. while at the same time carefully integrating his buildings into their natural environments. He has successfully adapted his characteristic design aesthetic to the larger scale of public buildings in such works as the extremely sculptural High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Ga. (1983). The international and public character of his work is evident in many of his later commissions: the Canal Plus building, Paris (1993); Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona (1995); Museum of Television and Radio, Beverly Hills (1996); Getty Center Getty Center, art museum complex in Brentwood, Calif. operated by the J. Paul Getty Trust. It consists of six buildings on 124 acres (50 hectares) located on a spectacular promontory overlooking Los Angeles.
..... Click the link for more information. , Brentwood, Calif. (1997), a six-building arts complex often called his masterpiece; Courthouse and Federal Building, Central Islip, N.Y. (2000); and the "Jubilee" Church, Rome (2003). Meier is also a sculptor and has created works of cast and welded metal.

Meier, Richard (Alan)

(born Oct. 12, 1934, Newark, N.J., U.S.) U.S. architect. Educated at Cornell University, Meier's early experience included work with the firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and with Marcel Breuer. Early in his career he executed a series of spectacular private residences. These houses typically feature refinements of and variations on classic Modernist principles—pure geometry, open space, and an emphasis on light—and they often display a crisp whiteness that contrasts sharply with the natural setting; the Douglas House, Harbor Springs, Mich. (1973), is a dramatically sited example. Building upon the success of his residences, beginning in the mid 1970s Meier began to receive large public commissions. These structures are characterized by geometric clarity and order, which is often punctuated by curving ramps and railings, and by a contrast between the light-filled, transparent surfaces of public spaces and the solid white surfaces of interior, private spaces. His Getty Center in Los Angeles (1984–97), with its terraced gardens, is a resplendent acropolis in travertine stone. Meier received the 1984 Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Meier, Richard (Alan) (1934– ) architect; born in Newark, N.J. He graduated from Cornell University and established a New York practice (1963), designing houses and housing projects, commercial buildings, and, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s, museums. His modernist designs were typically simple, often sculptural forms in which space is extended vertically and exteriors are painted white. He designed the Bronx Developmental Center (1970–76), the High Museum, Atlanta, and the new Getty Center, Brentwood, Calif.