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Richard Meier, born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1934, has been one of the most consistent of contemporary architects, to a point that his stylistic choices, from white aluminum panels to nautical railings, are among the most recognizable of his profession. Beneath these surface elements, Meier's plans continue to call on a geometric vocabulary, often based on the circle and the square. Linking plan to volume, a rigorous system of grids, even more than the choice of white cladding, constitutes the signature element of a Richard Meier building. The rigor of the design is emphasized through meticulous attention to detail, which in turn conveys an impression of quality often lacking in modern construction. Clearly, an approach to architecture that verges on the mathematical could very easily become repetitive, or worse, inhumane.
Meier has been accused of just such a lack of concern for the inhabitant, yet it seems clear that his precisionist geometric penchant is not so much an expression of formal concerns as a means to an end. That end is to create a space that is coherent, comprehensible, and functional, but more, his is a space where light is an omnipresent element that itself forms the environment, where the architecture creates a feeling of wellbeing, or of unspoken connection to the natural world, which may, at its best, attain a spiritual dimension.
In the words of the architect's friend, the artist Frank Stella,"Light is life." Richard Meier's own interest in art, expressed in his sculptures or collages, but also, most significantly, in his architecture, is an important element in understanding both his approach and his built work. As the definitions of the word "art" have become more and more complex, often including forms of expression that are far less intellectually and culturally demanding than architecture, the critic is tempted to agree with Meier's appraisal of his own work. In a different time and place, John Ruskin said,"No person who is not a great sculptor or painter can be an architect. If he is not a sculptor or painter, he can only be a builder."When asked if he makes a fundamental distinction between architecture and art, Meier responds, "No, architecture is just as much a work of art as any other. I make a distinction between architecture and collages of course. I think that there is a problem today in the world. Architecture as an art is a forgotten art. People look at sculpture and painting, but not at architecture. Maybe it has to do with the education of art historians."
Recent architecture and art have been marked by frequent stylistic shifts, or perhaps more accurately by dissolution of style in favor of trends or personal expressions. As the first decade of the 21st century draws to a close with no dominant aesthetic view, the very idea of style has been called into question. Architecture, once a symbol of permanence, has wavered between willful impermanence and computer-generated extravagance. Few mature creators have passed through this period without being tempted by one or another of the fashions of the times. Fewer still have set and maintained a clear course. In fact, an architect or an artist with a style recognizable over the years is exposed to accusations of immobility or inability to change. Yet many of the most durable works of art were born of rules as strict as the unity of time and place of the classical theater. Few would argue that Shakespeare's adherence to Elizabethan parameters prevented him from encompassing the entire range of human experience in his plays. In King Lear, the English master wrote, "Ripeness is all." It would be overly simplistic to say that in Meier's case whiteness is all, and yet there is a sense that the life of his art is in the light that plays across his walls or floors. It is precisely its whiteness that allows Richard Meier's architecture to live and breath.
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