1934-
Architect

Education and Training.

A native of Newark, New Jersey, Meier received his architectural training at Cornell University. He worked in the office of Marcel Breuer from 1960 to 1963 and established his own practice in 1963. He received the Pritzker Prize in 1984 and a Royal Gold Medal in 1988.

Getty Center.

The 1980s set the stage for how Meier would spend the next decade. Then based in New York City, the architect learned in 1984 that he was chosen to design the J. Paul Getty Center in Los Angeles, California. Built on a 710-acre hilltop, the $1 billion Getty Center opened on 16 December 1997. The collection of six separate units linked by terraces and plazas has nearly one million square feet of space. The campus combines both modern and classic forms. Meier said of his creation: "In my mind I keep returning to the Romans—to Hadrian's Villa, to Caprarola for...