Getty Center | Richard Meier & Partners

The Getty Center occupies a narrow, hilly stretch high above the San Diego Freeway in Los Angeles California. Jutting southward from the Santa Monica Mountains, the museum’s acropolis-like stature affords spectacular views over the city, the mountains, and the ocean.

Coined, “the commission of the century”, this $1 billion arts facility began in 1984 with the mandate to advance knowledge and nurture critical seeing through the growth and presentation of its collections and by advancing the understanding and preservation of the world’s artistic heritage. Today the Museum’s permanent collection contains Greek and Roman antiquities, 18th-century French furniture and European paintings, and is visited by more than 1.8 million people a year.

photography by © wikimedia commons

Completed in 1997, Richard Meier’s program brings the seven components of the Getty Trust into a coherent unity, while maintaining their individual identities. The layout establishes a dialogue between the angle of intersection and a number of curvilinear forms that are largely derived from the contours of the site infected by the Freeway, the metropolitan grid, and the natural topography; the overall parts relate to both the City of Los Angeles and the Santa Monica Mountains.
The Center covers almost 100,000 square feet of area and is organized along two ridges in the topography of the 110-acre parcel.

Courtesy of richard meier & partners architects ©scott frances esto

The Museum acts as the centerpiece and the main entrance to the Center. Stepping off the tram that takes you from the base of the mountain and parking area to the Welcome Center and into the Museum. The entrance lobby has a sun-lit circular foyer and provides views through the courtyard to gallery structures arrayed in a continuous sequence.
Throughout the Museum there is a layering in a section between paintings, illuminated by skylights on the top floor and artworks which must be shielded from an ultraviolet light on the lower levels.

Courtesy of richard meier & partners architects ©scott frances esto

The smaller pavilion buildings, connected by gardens, break down the scale of the museum experience allowing for pauses and the encouraging interplay between the interior and exterior.
Each pavilion cluster has its own atrium with an adjacent stairway and elevator linking the sculpture drawing, manuscript, and photo galleries on the first floor to the paintings and galleries above.
A 450-seat auditorium, west of the Getty Trust offices and the Art History Information Program, terminate the east elevation. The Getty Conservation Institution, The Getty Center for Education, and The Getty Grant Program take advantage of the climate through the use of loggias, pergolas and full-height glazing at the external perimeter. Along the more secluded western ridge, the Getty Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities completes the complex.

Courtesy of richard meier & partners architects ©scott frances esto

The Getty Center was the first building to be LEED certified after the standard was established by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) in 1998. It is a reflection of Richard Meier & Partners design philosophy that innately considers sustainable elements like natural light, circulation and energy-saving technologies and materials.
Special thanks to Richard Meier & Partners Architects and Scott Frances ESTO for the images, drawings, data and detailed description of the Getty Center.
This building is part of our Architecture City Guide: Los Angeles. Check all the other buildings in this guide right here.

Axonometric, Courtesy of Richard Meier & Partners Architects

Project Info:
Architects: Richard Meier & Partners
Location: Los Angeles, California
Architect: Richard Meier & Partners, Architects LLP
References: Richard Meier & Partners Architects
Project Year: 1997
Photographs: Wikimedia Commons “Bytebear, Vanderven, Sailko“, Scott Frances ESTO