Archinect - News

Richard Meier is retiring as name change signals firm restructuring

2021-06-24T13:34:00-04:00

Architect Richard Meier is retiring from his firm renamed Meier Partners in a restructuring plan that signals an official end to the 86-year-old architect’s involvement with the practice.

Meier has been away from the office since the fall of 2018 after sexual harassment allegations published in The New York Times that spring ensnared him in the Me Too movement sweeping across various high-profile industries at the time.

Meier founded the firm in 1963 after brief stints in the studios of SOM and Marcel Breuer, eventually contributing designs for the Getty Center and San Jose City Hall before stepping down. Richard Meier & Partners Architects was then headed briefly by Bernhard Karpf, who left in July of 2019 to start his own practice in Brooklyn.

Previously on Archinect: Richard Meier steps down

New additions to the firm were also announced as Meier and his daughter Ana continue on in advisory roles. George Miller will become COO and Dukho Yeon is the firm’s new lead designer. Both...

Brutalist Retreats and Gaudi Lawsuits: October 2018 in Review

2018-12-27T09:00:00-05:00

Eclectic is the word I would use to describe Archinect news in October: Bizarre lawsuits, advanced mapping algorithms and meticulous light displays were among the subjects of our most popular posts this month.

↑ Gaudi's Sagrada Familia fined $41 million for lack of building permit

Arguably the most famous building currently under construction, La Sagrada Familia, found itself in hot water this October when it was determined that it did not have the proper building permits for its century-old site. The church's trustees conceded to paying $41 million in fees over a 10-year period, so that the city can fund public transportation, increase accessibility, and make other improvements to the surrounding area.

↑ Muji's apartment prototype tackles long commutes and highly dense cities

Muji is a design company closely associated with small-scale minimalist objects, but in October the brand demonstrated their skills know no bounds. Equipped with an open communal space and kitchen, the Muji ...

Stella Lee's story calls for architecture to adopt a new movement

2018-10-12T15:25:00-04:00

Architectural education is plagued by the mentality that suffering is a necessary part of its practice. [...] The acceptance of suffering easily slips into normalizing sexual misconduct and its suppression as simply part of the practice. Cultlike worship of the star architect only exacerbates this condition, and there are plenty [...] willing to sacrifice their time and integrity because they have been conditioned to believe that this mode of production is normal.

The architecture world is known for many movements that have enabled architects to create iconic works. From bauhaus to brutalist, midcentury modern to contemporary, countless movements have impacted the architectural timeline. But in today's climate of inclusivity and representation is there one movement in particular that architecture is too slow to adopt?

Designing physical spaces that depict an artistic representation of form and function is something many architects strive for. However, have firms and institutions lost their way when it comes to designing a space that evokes "an equitable working environment?"

Bureau V team (left to right) Stella Lee, Peter Zuspan, Laura Trevino Image via BureauV

Stella Lee, architect and founding partner of the inclusive award-winning studio Bureau V, recently shared her experiences while working with Richard Meier. Having been accused of sexual misconduct it was announced early this month that Meier would be stepping down from his leadership...

Richard Meier steps down

2018-10-09T20:08:00-04:00

Richard Meier is officially out at Richard Meier & Partners Architects, the company announced in a statement titled Leadership Changes this morning.

"Founder Richard Meier will step back from day-to-day activities and support the leadership transition of the firm he founded in 1963," reveals the release. "He will remain available to colleagues and clients who seek his vast experience and counsel. The firm will maintain and develop the rigorous design philosophy that Richard pioneered."

Meier, 83, has been taking a leave of absence since March this year after accusations of sexual harassment were brought forward by five women—four of whom had previously worked with Meier.

The statement lists various senior employees to be taking on leadership positions, most notably Bernhard Karpf as the new Managing Principal of the New York office as well as Vivian Lee, Reynolds Logan, and Dukho Yeon, who were promoted to Principals. Partner Michael Palladino and Jim Crawford will maintain their ...

The Architectural League rescinds Richard Meier's Life Trustee status

2018-04-11T14:18:00-04:00

This is a painful period of reckoning for our community. While we don’t presume to have all the answers, we believe achieving a more just and accountable professional culture moving forward begins with open dialogue and, above all, an unwavering commitment to respecting the human rights of all individuals.

In a statement published on Architect Magazine yesterday, The Architectural League of New York announced that they have revoked Richard Meier's status as a Life Trustee of the League, a month after the architect was accused of sexual harassment by multiple women. In the following weeks after news of the allegations broke, Cornell University's College of Architecture, Art, and Planning refused Meier's gift to name the chair of the Department of Architecture; Sotheby's closed a solo exhibition of Meier's work at its S2 Gallery; and the AIANY rescinded Meier's 2018 Design Award.

“As we confront allegations of abuses of power in architecture, the League is developing programs and resources to move our community forward to make the goal of equitable, fair, empowering environments a reality across the culture of architecture,” the Architectural League stated. “We also, in specific instances, must make decisions with respect to individuals whose behavior does not meet the standards we bel...

Architecture students at Harvard's GSD pressure the administration to respond to the Shitty Men in Architecture List

2018-04-10T12:41:00-04:00

On Harvard's campus, students in their Graduate School of Design programs are pressuring the administration to respond to an anonymous spreadsheet that catalogued incidences of assault, harassment and other abuses in the industry. The spreadsheet, known as the Shitty Men in Architecture list, was created after Richard Meier was accused by five women of sexual harassment, ushering in a #metoo moment for the industry. Inspired by the Shitty Media Men list that outed numerous predatory journalists back in October of last year, the anonymous creator(s) launched the crowdsourced document to give the architecture community a platform for sharing their own stories of abuse in an anonymous and safe way. They insist, in a disclaimer that is part of the document, that the content should not be seen as "legally true."

According to the school's paper, The Harvard Crimson, the list "contained anonymous accounts of sexual misconduct and racist acts allegedly perpetrated by more than a dozen GSD s...

Why Richard Meier's behavior was known and went unchecked

2018-04-05T15:27:00-04:00

After a report last month by The New York Times detailing a pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Meier, more women have come forward to share their own upsetting encounters with him. But in recounting such experiences, these women said they had also been disturbed by a sense of helplessness that pervaded the firm. Mr. Meier’s behavior was common knowledge, they said, but no one seemed to have the power to stop it.

With the #metoo movement, women have come forward exposing Richard Meier's abusive behavior to his employees. Further investigation has explored why this behavior of powerful men harassing or assaulting women went unchecked at their organizations. The common thread is fear of losing a job.

Many women did not lodge formal complaints with the company for fear of being fired (although some were fired regardless soon after an incident). Other employees in the company who knew what was going on did nothing to stop it for fear of losing their own jobs.

Looking for a job at a women-led firm? Check out our latest job roundups featuring current (at the time of writing) opportunities at firms powered by amazing women.

AIANY revoke 2018 Design Awards from Richard Meier and Peter Marino

2018-03-23T02:35:00-04:00

... given allegations of inappropriate and unacceptable behavior by two AIANY 2018 Design Award Recipients—Richard Meier and Peter Marino—the AIANY Board of Directors has made the decision to rescind the honors that were announced in January 2018 and were to be celebrated at the Honors and Awards Luncheon next month.

AIANY executive director Benjamin Prosky issued a statement on their decision to revoke Design Awards from Richard Meier and Peter Marino. Prosky states, “Our decision does not speak to the design quality of the projects or the contributions from the respective firms’ design teams, rather we cannot in good conscience confer these awards under these circumstances.”

The full statement by AIANY can be read here.

Cornell AAP, Sotheby's, Pritzker Prize respond to their ties with Richard Meier, following sexual harassment allegations

2018-03-14T13:51:00-04:00

Following the allegations of sexual harassment by Richard Meier reported in The New York Times yesterday, the Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning declined Meier's new gift to name the chair of the Department of Architecture, and has cancelled the event planned next week to celebrate the gift.

“As one of our most well-known alumni, Richard Meier has been associated with Cornell University and the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning through his gifts that support students and faculty. Although he has apologized, the reported behavior is unacceptable,” Cornell AAP Dean Kent Kleinman said in a statement yesterday. “We will swiftly explore what additional actions are appropriate with regard to endowments for professorships and scholarships previously donated to Cornell.”

Additionally, Sotheby's Auction House promptly closed a solo exhibition of Meier's work at its S2 Gallery in New York that was supposed to run through March 29, ARTnews first reported. S...

Richard Meier, accused by 5 women of sexual harassment, to take a six-month leave of absence

2018-03-13T14:00:00-04:00

In a story published by the New York Times this morning, five women—four of whom worked with Meier and another who encountered him through the Getty—have gone on record with their stories of sexual harassment and assault at the hands of Richard Meier. The behavior ranges from grabbing a woman's "underwear through her dress at a firm holiday party," to exposing himself to unwilling employees. In one instance, according to the Times, Meier forcefully pulled a women into bed, causing her to flee his home in Los Angeles.

With these women going public, Mr. Meier has decided to take a six month leave from his firm, which is a rather short amount of time considering the severity of these accusations. He has issued the following statement: “I am deeply troubled and embarrassed by the accounts of several women who were offended by my words and actions. While our recollections may differ, I sincerely apologize to anyone who was offended by my behavior. I am leaving the company in the hands of...

Five decades later, Richard Meier unites with Smith House clients

2018-02-27T15:37:00-05:00

[...] Richard Meier designed a house on a rocky site on Long Island Sound that exhibited many of the moves that would come to define his career. From the front, the Smith House—located in Darien, Connecticut, and completed in 1967—is a narrow, three-story white box.

Completed in 1967, Smith House was one of Richard Meier's earliest commissions and recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. Judging by a new set of images shot by photographer Mike Schwartz, the building with its light-flooded interior and floor-to-ceiling windows enabling stunning vistas of the Long Island Sound has aged gracefully.

Photo: Mike Schwartz

Marking the occasion, Surface magazine united Meier with Chuck Smith, current co-owner and one of the original clients' two sons who had the privilege of growing up in this modernist masterpiece.

Richard Meier: "The special quality of the house is that it gives you an understanding of the relationship between what’s man-made and what’s natural. The whiteness, of course, highlights that relationship. It reflects and refracts the color of nature in a way it heightens your perception of the landscape around you."

Photo: Mike Schwartz

Read the complete interview here.

Cornell Architecture Chair named after AAP alumnus Richard Meier

2018-01-29T13:15:00-05:00

The chair of the Department of Architecture in AAP will bear the name of one of the college's renowned alumni: Richard Meier (B.Arch. '56). The Richard Meier Chair of the Department of Architecture was announced by the college and by Richard Meier & Partners Architects, Meier's New York City– and Los Angeles–based practice for 55 years.

The first person to hold the new title of Richard Meier Chair of the Department of Architecture will be AAP associate professor Andrea Simitch (B.Arch. '79).

The 83-year-old Meier is the only Cornell alumnus to have received the Pritzker Architecture Prize (1984).

Richard Meier discusses his first black building in new Time-Space-Existence video

2018-01-11T13:41:00-05:00

Richard Meier’s oeuvre is known for bold, geometric buildings cast in luminous white, a color he believes enhances nature and refracts the world. One of the most recognized architects alive today, Meier has dedicated five decades to his field and worked on projects around the globe. As part of our partnership with PLANE—SITE (a Berlin-based creative agency working at the interface of urban form, cultural space and social life), we are sharing another video from their Time-Space-Existence series featuring Richard Meier.

685 First Avenue © bloomimages

In this new short video, Meier discusses his first ever black building, 685 First Avenue in New York, as well as his love of designing buildings for public gathering, for enjoyment and for learning. Part of the renowned New York Five group of Modernist architects, the Pritzker Prize-winning architect, over the course of his fifty-year career, has consistently placed formal clarity, light, and abstraction at t...

In search of better affordable housing: the origin story of the Bronx's Twin Parks development

2017-12-27T14:02:00-05:00

In the 1970s, a state agency tapped some of the best young architects in the country for an ambitious affordable housing effort that—despite its flaws—could not be matched today. Twin Parks, an affordable housing project in the Bronx, does not comport with expectations. [...] Overall, it provides palpably better affordable housing than what’s typically offered in the U.S., and maintains an engaged community.

CityLab writer Anthony Paletta looks back at the origins of the 1970s Twin Parks affordable housing development in the Bronx and its (now) famous architects who were then just gaining traction in their young careers, most notably Richard Meier, James Polshek (and this year's winner of the AIA Gold Medal), and Lo-Yi Chan.

Richard Meier on the Getty Center as it turns 20

2017-12-04T14:46:00-05:00

The Getty Center, that collection of hilltop buildings in travertine and white metal panels designed by the New York architects Richard Meier & Partners, opened to the public on Dec. 16, 1997. To mark the 20th anniversary of the Brentwood complex, we reached Meier, now 83, by phone to ask him about his memories of getting it built.

Richard Meier & Partners completes their first bridge project, the new Cittadella Bridge

2017-09-26T19:09:00-04:00

Over 20 years after being commissioned, Richard Meier & Partners finally completed the new Cittadella Bridge in Alessandria, Italy. As the practice's first bridge (which they worked on with Dante O. Benini & Partners Architects), the 185-meter-long structure reconnects the city with an 18th-century citadel across the Tanaro River, and replaces the original Napoleonic-era Cittadella Bridge.

Photo © Hufton+Crow.

Following the floods of Alessandria in 1994, the water level rose high enough to cover the roadway and the piers of the original bridge. The new bridge is 32.5 meters tall and stands well above the flood plain, restoring the natural flow of the river. With a surface area of about 4,150 m2, the new bridge is made of white precast concrete, painted steel, aluminum, and ipe hardwood. It was also designed with separate parallel routes for vehicles and pedestrians.

Photo © Hufton+Crow.

Photo © Hufton+Crow..

Photo © Hufton+Crow.

“I am extremely pleased to have completed this new modern...

New Rothschild Tower by Richard Meier & Partners Completes in Tel Aviv's White City

2017-09-11T14:10:00-04:00

Tel Aviv has the largest concentration of buildings in the Bauhaus/International Style of any city in the world. With a collection of over 4,000 buildings covering almost one and a half square miles, the White City, as it is called, was largely created in the 1930s by a group of 200 German Jewish architects fleeing Nazi Germany who were heavily influenced by Bauhaus principles as well as modernists like Le Corbusier and Erich Mendelsohn.

Photo Credit: Roland Halbe.

Drawing on this rich architectural history, Richard Meier & Partners have just completed a new residential tower that draws inspiration from the Bauhaus design principles of its neighbors in the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Meier commented on the surroundings saying "the great thing about the site is that it's related to the whole city; it's related to all of the wonderful buildings of the 1930s and to the historic buildings of Rothschild Boulevard. It makes me very happy to be in s...

The NYT takes a tour of Richard Meier’s summer house in the Hamptons

2017-08-01T16:34:00-04:00

The man known for his modern, white, geometrically intricate buildings spends his summers in a simple, cedar-shingled farmhouse built in 1907 that he bought from the family of the original owners in 1984. On a July afternoon, Mr. Meier was in his study there, painting watercolors.

Initiated by Donald Trump, the Far West Side of Manhattan Development is Almost Finished

2017-06-23T12:33:00-04:00

The effort to convert the old Penn Central rail yard on the Far West Side of Manhattan into high-rises has bumped along since being proposed in the mid-1970s by a developer named Donald J. Trump. What was proposed for the area often rankled neighbors, who found the buildings to be too tall, too close together and too pricey. But, after welcoming its first residents in the late 1990s, the controversial mega-project is entering its homestretch.

The site includes buildings by architects like Richard Meier and the soon-too-be-completed Three Waterline Square by Rafael Viñoly.

While Donald Trump is no longer the landlord, his name still appears on façades.

Inside Richard Meier’s White-Walled World

2017-06-21T11:51:00-04:00

The American architect – part of the New York Five and one of the city’s most iconic modernists – talks to Port about his body of work and branching out from his beloved colour white

The new Richard Meier Light collection captures elements of the architect's iconic buildings

2017-03-28T20:33:00-04:00

It was only a matter of time until Richard Meier would come out with a lighting collection. Earlier this month, the architect launched a series of stylish indoor lighting fixtures simply named Richard Meier Light at the Ralph Pucci New York showroom. Industrial designer Ana Meier, who is Richard's daughter, developed the collection with her father and L'Observatoire International founder Hervé Descottes. “They’re Ana’s — she did the drawings. My role was to comment when asked,” Meier said in the Architectural Record.

“I was moved to take recurring themes and forms in Richard’s work, and translate them into sculptural objects that are interacted with everyday,” Ana Meier said in a statement about the 12-piece collection, which includes sconces, floor and table lamps, and hanging pendants — all in white, of course. WonderGlass also manufactured some of the pieces.

Some lights depict simple geometric forms while others resemble Richard Meier's buildings like the Barcelona Museum of Cont...

A Richard Meier Building. In Black.

2016-11-07T00:18:00-05:00

Designed by the Pritzker Prize-winning architect Richard Meier, the 556-unit building, 685 First Avenue, is going up just south of the United Nations headquarters on the westernmost lot of the long-dormant site, which stretches along the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive from 35th Street to 41st Street. It will be the first building that Mr. Meier, known for his Modernist style and white aesthetic, has designed in black.

Black glass curtainwall - bloomimages

Richard Meier on the Buildings He Wishes He’d Designed

2016-02-10T14:57:00-05:00

Until recently, though, Mr. Meier had never broken ground in South Korea. He checked that off his list with the newly opened Seamarq Hotel, a towering white complex overlooking the East Sea in the city of Gang-neung. “Our client chose a really magnificent site,” Mr. Meier said from his New York office.

"Process and Vision" showcases the work of Richard Meier at the Chicago Architecture Biennial

2015-10-23T12:58:00-04:00

In keeping with the Chicago Architecture Biennial theme “The State of the Art of Architecture”, Richard Meier’s architectural projects, exhibited at the MANA Contemporary, underscore the consistency of a language pursued over many years of intense architectural activity.

Meier makes mark in Miami

2015-04-13T12:25:00-04:00

Far from reducing his workload or resting on his considerable laurels, the 80-year-old Meier and his partners are also wrapping up construction on several other projects, including the HH Resort and Spa in Gangneung, South Korea; the Leblon office building in Rio de Janeiro; the 140-unit Rothschild Tower in Tel Aviv; the Cittadella Bridge in Alessandria, Italy; and Teachers Village, a mixed-use development in Newark, New Jersey.

Rev. Robert H. Schuller, patron of architecture, 1926-2015

2015-04-03T00:25:00-04:00

"Come as you are in the family car"

"ARTESIA, Calif. (AP) — The Rev. Robert H. Schuller, a California televangelist and author who beamed his upbeat messages on faith and redemption to millions of followers from his landmarkCrystal Cathedral only to see his empire crumble in his waning years, has died. He was 88."

The Rev. Schuller known as the pastor who invented religious marketing and branding was also a patron of architecture. He started his congregation as a rented space from Orange Drive-inTtheatre. Later, Schuller hired modernist architect Richard Neutra who completed The Tower of Hope in 1968 and in 1980 Crystal Cathedral was dedicated as it was designed by Philip Johnson, a Pritzker Prize winning (its first in 1979) American architect. The latest addition was a Visitor Center designed by a New York architect Richar Meier in 2003 who also won a Pritzker Prize in 1984.

Is Newark the Next Brooklyn?

2015-03-20T13:28:00-04:00

When construction’s done in 2016, Teachers Village will consist of eight, low-rise buildings housing three charter schools and a daycare facility, 65,000 square feet of retail, and 205 residential units designed by the world-renowned Richard Meier, Newark’s native son and architect of the Getty Center in Los Angeles and the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art in Spain.

Richard Meier, on His Mentors

2014-10-01T11:29:00-04:00

The first job I had after graduating from architecture school was in the office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. And I worked under the head person, Gordon Bunshaft, who was terrific. And, after I was there for six months, I was offered a position in the office of Marcel Breuer. So, I went and told Mr. Bunshaft, “I'm sorry that I've only been here a short time…” but I wanted to work in Breuer's office because it was smaller and more of the kind of office I had one day hoped to have for myself.

Richard Meier’s High and Mighty Beach House

2014-07-11T12:27:00-04:00

But building the $2.25 million steel-and-glass structure he had in mind presented a number of challenges on Fire Island. For starters, they had to dig 10 feet below sea level to bury the wood piles. Then they had to put a steel frame on top that could support 25 tons of glass. Sam Wood, the contractor, had been working on Fire Island for 30 years and had never seen anything like it. “It’s built like a mini-skyscraper,” he said.

Italian scientist Luigi Cassar invents a "smog-eating" self-cleaning white concrete

2014-05-09T16:46:00-04:00

A special construction material keeps concrete whiter than white.

The first application was on Richard Meier's Jubilee Church in Rome.