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Richard Meier

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Richard Meier (born October 12 1934 in Newark, New Jersey) is an influential, contemporary American architect known for his rationalist designs and the use of the colour white.

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 Museum in Los Angeles, California catapulted his popularity among the mainstream.

Much of Meier's work builds on the work of the architectural masters of the early to mid-20th century- especially that of Le Corbusier and, in particular, Le Corbusier's early phase. In fact, it might be said that Meier has probably built more using Corbusier's ideas than anyone, including Le Corbusier himself. Meier expanded many ideas evident in Le Corbusier's work, particularly the Villa Savoye and the Swiss Pavilion.

His work also reflects the influences of other master 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.

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Last updated on Tuesday February 26, 2008 at 13:17:13 PST (GMT -0800)
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