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Meier's House on A Hill



Richard Meier's Douglas House
1971-73
Harbor Springs, Michigan USA

On a steep and obviously isolated hill in the Michigan town of Harbor Springs sits the Douglas House, one of my personal favourites of Meier's private homes. It looks larger than it really is, because of all the glass, but I can assure you its footprint is small, and its multi-leveled "wedding cake" design is carefully executed to anchor it on this hill:

House on a Hill - The "Public" Sector of the Douglas House

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(© k-NAP)

The "public" sector of Douglas House - "public/private" are Meierian expression - faces Lake Michigan. To get there, however, one must drive, walk or cycle along a narrow road and enter on the eastern or "private" side. That side looks like it is not part of the structure at all, with few windows and the look of a white wall. This rear entrance is actually to the roof of the building, via a “flying bridgeâ€. After descending into the building, which is essentially a summer retreat, imagine relaxing in this interior space:

Inside Douglas House - Notice Le Corbusier's chairs (in black)

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(© k-NAP)

 
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Meier's Museum in an American Utopia



Richard Meier’s The Atheneum
1975-79
New Harmony, Indiana USA​

This museum is primarily lit with carefully screened natural light within an open floor plan. The artwork is protected quite cleverly by the spacing of floors above and below. Closeups reveal the extraordinary white porcelain tile on the exterior of this four-storey (see below), that sits on what I believe is a man-made. terraced hill (don't quote me on this). Although I have never been on its balcony, I understand that it allows you full 360-degree access to the best view of New Harmony, and the nearby Wabash River. New Harmony is NW of Evansville, if you are planning on traveling in that area to see this building.

Richard Meier’s Graphite (Pencil) Draft of Exterior Aerial of "The Atheneum"

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(© 2007 Richard Meier and given as a gift to MOMA in NYC)


Two Views of "The Atheneum"

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(© Columbia University NY, NY USA)

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(©Wikipedia)

 
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Meier's Collection of Museums in One Place - Getty Centre

Richard Meier’s J. Paul Getty Center
1984-97
Los Angeles, California USA​

This is the most extensive project that Richard Meier had yet undertaken, coming in the same year that he received his highest honour – Pritzker Architecture Award. The massive layout of buildings prompted him to combine his characteristic white structures with those made of light coloured stone. The complexity and pristine beauty were everywhere on display, as he spent a decade and a half working on this masterwork.

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(top left aerial © Wikipedia, top right multi-photo © epdlp, remaining are © Reed College in Portland, Oregon USA)
 
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Meier's Manhattan Skyscraper Towers



Richard Meier’s
Residential Towers on Perry and Charles Streets
West Village of Manhattan
1999–2005
NY, NY USA

Ahead are the three skyscrapers found on two adjacent streets - Perry and Charles - and facing the Hudson River. The North and South Tower on Perry Street are located at 173 and 176 respectively, both were completed in 2003; whereas the third Tower is located at 165 Charles Street and was completed in 2005.*

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(© flikr / Peter Guthrie)

* - This corrects a previous post that indicated only two of these buildings had been built, and had the wrong completion date for the two that were cited.

 
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Meier's Church within the Housing Projects of Rome



Richard Meier's
Iglesia del Jubileo (Jubilee Church)
1996–2003
Roma, Italia Europa​

This building received AIA's highest Award, slightly over a year after it was completed, in a depressed neighbourhood in Rome. To quote their house organ, AIArchitect, from the January 2005 edition:

Jubilee Church, Rome
Richard Meier & Partners Architects, LLP,
for Opera Romana, la Preservazione delle fede e la Provvista di Nuove Chiese in Roma

This church was conceived as a new center for an isolated housing quarter outside central Rome. The triangular site is thrice articulated: dividing the sacred realm to the south from the secular precinct to the north; separating the approach on foot from the housing to the east; and separating the approach on foot from the parking lot to the west. The paved sagrato to the east of the church extends into the heart of the housing complex and provides a plaza for public assembly. Christian symbolism is revealed throughout the complex. The three concrete shells that, with the spine-wall, make the body of the nave imply the Holy Trinity. The pool reflects the role of water in Baptism. The materials in the portico allude to the body of Christ’s church while referencing the fabric of the adjacent residential area. “A building with beauty from every side,†noted the jury, and “a true focus for the neighborhood. The church reveals spectacular daylight—dappled, dynamic, kinetic, openness in spirit, yet a containment of the eye. The quality of the light is breathtaking.â€


And after two 2D graphics next, are a few of the many lovely pictures that have been taken of this church, in the shadow of crowded Roman area.:


2D Representations of location within housing projects (left) and exterior front and rear (right)

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Church as built from several exterior angles

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Interior of Chapel: Floor to Roof

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(© Richard Meier & Partners Architects LLP)

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(© Wikipedia)

After competing against many of the world's finest architects for this commission, including Santiago Calatrava Valls, the news media informed Richard Alan Meier that he would now be the first Jewish architect in history to design a church for the Roman Catholic Church. And what is equally significant, it was on the 2000th Anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ. Meier underlined the fact that there were three Jewish architects that competed (one of whom was Frank Gehry), and that each could have won with their ideas and design. But he was honoured and proud to be the first, and was well aware of the project's significance despite the size of the actual church. Several years later, in an architectural magazine he delivered, with conviction, his take on another aspect of this project. I found his answer both thoughtful and revealing:

The goal of most religious architecture is to convey spiritual power. How does your design convey that kind of spirit?

Richard Meier: Light is the protagonist of our understanding and reading of space. Light is the means by which we are able to experience what we call sacred. Light is at the origins of this building. I am reminded of H.G. Gadamer’s words in The Relevance of the Beautiful: “We only have to think of certain expressions like the ‘play of light’ and the ‘play of the waves’ where we have such a constant coming and going, back and forth, a movement that is not tied down to any goal. That the sense of freedom and movement – both in human festivities, and also in natural phenomena as the play of light – may be seen as fundamentally theological.â€

If you visit Borromini’s church (Chiesa di S. Ivo alla Sapienza), you will experience a glorious white interior filled with light and magic. It is one of the great works of architecture of 16th century Rome. Also, S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, also by Borromini, has a quite animated interior.

In the Jubilee Church, the three concrete shells define an enveloping atmosphere in which the light from the skylights above creates a luminous spatial experience, and the rays of sunlight serve as a mystic metaphor of the presence of God.

The Jubilee Church is not a traditional church. If the Vicariato wanted a traditional church, they would not have invited me to participate in the competition. This church was always intended to be a work of contemporary architecture, meaningful for our time and one that is marked by openness. Transparency and light cascade down from the skylit roof, literally invading the interior of the church and also penetrating from below through a narrow slot opened at floor level. People in the atrium are enveloped with mystical light.


ArchNewsNow
October 23, 2003

I noticed the faint echoes of Alvar Aalto's Riola Parish Church in both the interior and the exterior. The treatment of light and the rhythm of the roofline, in particular, are redolent of Riola. But the materials are all different, and appear more fractured in Meier - the net effect is a more contemporary look. Finally, the use of this type of highly processed, rather than raw concrete, is singularly stunning. The latter makes any possible béton brut reference to Le Corbusier, either unwarranted, or at least outdated.

 
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Wow, nice stuff... except for the residential towers which don't appear particularly remarkable.
 
Wow, nice stuff... except for the residential towers which don't appear particularly remarkable.

Though at the same time, their popularity and fashionability perhaps helped grease the way for Toronto's high-rise Clewes-mania...
 
HOK's Bill Valentine had a nice go at the American values ( "we need the courage not to be grandiose" ) that produced the Getty ( "But the whole idea that in our culture you'd spend a billion dollars on it! They just did it because they could!" ) in yesterday's Globe Real Estate section.
 
Wow, nice stuff... except for the residential towers which don't appear particularly remarkable.

The press reacted most vigorously to these set of skyscrapers during phase one, when the two Perry Street Towers were completed. The newspaper and magazine reactions were largely composed of laudatory comments regarding these skyscrapers during this period, but even then, there were a few dissenters.

Calvin Klein, Nicole Kidman and Martha Stewart all bought multi-million dollar condominium "apartments" in the Perry Street Towers. But Martha Stewart never moved in, due to her well publicized jailing, eventually selling her property for a profit before returning. Then came the belated protests from the locals in the so-called West Village - meaning Greenwich Village - about how these structures were destroying the character of their neighbourhood. The placards were out in force several times, but this has since faded.

Bellon, an Architecture critic who goes by this singular name, does not particularly think that any of Meier's works are cutting edge, and pointed specifically to these Towers to prove it. Bellon was aware that Meier was called a neo-Corbusian, but he believed that this effort was more Miesian than Corbusian, despite the evidence from Meierian details of homage to Le Corbusier.

I personally favour the two Perry Street Towers, but simultaneously, I am not an enthusiast of what I have seen of the Charles Street Tower. Photographs of the Perry Street Towers' individual interiors, are very scarce, but we know that each "apartment" consists of 10 foot tall ceilings with unimpeded views of the river, use radiant floor heat to augment both energy efficiency and in a curious way the views from inside, and custom treatments that Meier engaged in for a fee, that made each floor unique in the way it was laid out. The strategically placed frosty glass on the balcony, and trademark white detailing, are all there in the detail, but lost in the distant profile shoots of the buildings as a pair.

I will place another Meier building or two, on subsequent post(s) to illustrate his less Miesian attempts in building the few skyscrapers that he has to-date. In general, skyscrapers were not a Meier focus throughout his career, but neither were churches and bridges. It is instructive, however, to take a look at what he has done, as space and reaction dictate.
 
Have you seen those Perry street towers in the flesh, ganja? Up close, they are structures of remarkable elegance. The glass is unbelievably delicate and the granite forecourt is incredibly serene. I also love how there are three of them, spaced equally among three blocks almost as if they form a triptych. They really are among the finest residential buildings built in the last few years.
 
More Meier Skyscrapers ... in the future!



Mandeville Place is skyscraper proposal for Philadelphia by Richard Meier and his team. Especially noteworthy for this proposed project is Michael Palladino. Pallandino has been one of Meier's most trusted design partners over the past several years, going back to the gigantic Getty Center project, which required an expansion in staff. Here you see the melding of Meier and Palladino in the final result, although most of the detailing is derived from Meier.

Richard Meier's Proposed
Mandeville Place
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA


Exterior Renderings:

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Interior Renderings:
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Have you seen those Perry street towers in the flesh, ganja? Up close, they are structures of remarkable elegance. The glass is unbelievably delicate and the granite forecourt is incredibly serene. I also love how there are three of them, spaced equally among three blocks almost as if they form a triptych. They really are among the finest residential buildings built in the last few years.

No, I haven't. Maybe the pics don't do them justice. They're fine... they just didn't strike me as being exceptional. I'll check 'em out next time I'm in town.

A proposed skyscraper for Philadelphia by Meier and his team:

Every time I see a new tower proposed somewhere, I wonder why can't try something other than this:

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There's nothing wrong with that, but enough already!
 


There are differences between Meier's high rises versus many other "glass boxes" not because they are of different schools, but rather because Meier makes a different set of subtle decisions, that demonstrate his particular vision and method.

The Perry Street Towers, for example, do not look the same on the backside as the front, and this is not foreshadowed by any thing that you will see in these particular photographs (the only ones that I could find on the internet at this moment that are decent enough to use). The Perry Street Towers are actually trapezoidal in shape, with many of the service functions placed on what is normally considered the city-side view. That decision was based on maximizing the view of the living space of the riverside, the most unobstructed side of each lot. If you also return to the two houses of the many I could have selected - Smith House and Douglas House - these same types of decisions were made even for the single-family home.


Meier's Perry Street Floorplates for 173 or North Tower (left) and 176 or South Tower
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(© Richard Meier & Partners)​

Note also that with his mid-level size structures, such as The Atheneum, each side of the building, while clad in the same materials, is different enough to look like they could be different buildings - a typical Meierian effect. I would compare this effect to a Cubist painting when examining each selected element in the frame, the angles and emphasis are changed, but all are within the same space.

Starting at Main Entrance (left) and viewing each side of The Atheneum in sequence
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(© Bluffton University / Mary Ann Sullivan)

In fact, one of the fascinating differences between Meier and Le Corbusier is that Meier was willing to externalize what would normally be on the interior of a Le Corbusier building. The staircases are a case in point for the private residences, but it depends on which residence you are referring to, as to when Meier would include this feature.

Finally, turning our attention briefly to the Philadelphia proposal: looks like a box at first, that happens to be thin on one side, but look at it again, more carefully. On that thin side you can compare the flat side facing North to the step back side facing South - neither of the planar sides face the sun, but are part of the same complex for each condominium since there is one condominium floor per unit. The setback contains some of the service core. Meier's decision is to again determine the direction(s) the living space will face, and with Palladino, he created the skyscraper equivalent to a Flat Screen TV: to get the best views in a minimalist structure.

Cutting edge, Meier is not - this is no Chicago Spire or Absolute World - but it is an interesting example of his update to a style that has been with us for sometime now, and will likely be in future.


 
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