The Getty Center and the Similarity with San Jose City Hall The architecture of the Getty Center by Richard Meier remarked a big achievement in his life. Richard Meier is a famous American architect, and he is well known on the refinements and variations on classic modernism: pure geometry, open space, and attracting light. After Meier graduated from the Cornell University in Ithaca, New York in 1957, he worked for Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill architectural firm for few years. He then started his own career in 1963 (Jodidio). His works have included houses, museums, medical facilities, commercial buildings, major civic commissions, and the city hall (Richard Meier). Meier built The Getty Center in the late 20th century at Los Angeles. From 1985 to 1997, he spent most of his time to work on the Getty architecture. It was an immense project and marked a success in Meier’s career. The Getty Center was his major architecture and inspired him to create many incredible works later including San Jose City Hall. This building was built during the early 21st century and located in the heart of San Jose City. Therefore, this paper is to introduce the speciality and attraction of the Getty Center and its similarities with the City Hall of San Jose. The Getty Center is an accomplishment of the hard work from both Meier and the constructors. The center was constructed on the hilltop site in the Santa Monica Mountains (Architectural Description). The building process was difficult since the workers had to transfer the heavy materials up to the mountain. About 300,000 blocks of travertine and 40,000 aluminum panels were commuted on one road. It was just like a construction that was built on top a pinhead. Furthermore, because Meier wanted to have the tawny colored of marbles to match with his white tradition color, he worked one year in Italy to collect the marbles (Architectural Description). Totally, the architecture used 1.2 million square feet of marbles, and they were delivered from Italy to Los Angeles. Therefore, a lot of time and work from the workers were required to finish the Getty Center.
The building impresses the viewers by the special location and design. Standing in the Getty Center, the audiences can enjoy the prominent view of Santa Monica and Los Angeles. Besides, they can see the Pacific Ocean, San Gabriel Mountains, and the vast city. Moreover, The architecture is the combination of six different buildings: Auditorium, North, East, Museum, Café, and Research institute building. Those constructions link together as a modern Acropolis or castle on top a mountain. People in the center may have a feeling of standing in an unique kingdom. In addition, the use of the delicate marbles showed the qualities of the Getty Center such as permanence, solidity, simplicity, warmth, and craftsmanship. Generally, the Getty Center is a notable construction because it was a spectacular combination of good location and different materials. Besides the imperial view, the Getty Center has attention of the audiences from utilizing the natural source. The architect’s purpose was to maximize the use of sunlight in the center (Getty Silver LEED Certification). Therefore, natural light is one of the important elements for the Getty Center architecture. There are many glass walls to allow the sunlight to illuminate the interior building. This idea reduces the use of the electric energy in the building (Architecture). However, they had to use special filters that removed the ultraviolet radiation (UV) light in order to protect the artworks inside the Museum from nature light. Moreover, the garden plays a significant role in the Getty Center (Williams). The Central Garden was created by artist Robert Irwin, an American installation artist. The garden, with the natural ravine and the tree-lined walkways, leads visitors through special sights, sound, and scents. In an article about the garden in Getty Center, the author mentioned, “Continuing through the plaza, the stream cascades over a stone waterfall or ‘chadar,’ into a pool with a floating maze of azaleas. Specialty gardens encircle the pool. All of the foliage and materials of the garden have been selected to accentuate the interplay of light, color, and reflection” (“Gardens”). In other words, the garden is a living work of art in nature. The peaceful and natural beauty of the garden adds to the impression of the Getty Center. In short, with the glass walls and natural plants in garden, architects highlighted the idea of using green sources from nature to enhance the environmental atmosphere to the visitors. The Getty Center created inspiration to San Jose City Hall. There are some similarities between these two famous buildings. The Getty Center and San Jose City Hall were created by Richard Meier during late 20th and early 21st century. Both buildings were designed to use the maximal nature light. The main element in both architectures is the glass walls. These special walls help to provide light to the buildings. Thus, less electricity has been used inside the buildings. Another similarity between both architectures is the stones. Meier used the stones in the Getty Center is to catch the bright daylight. During the morning hours, the stones reflect the sharp lights and emit honeyed warmth in the afternoon (Architecture). Similar purpose of using stones was applied for San Jose City Hall. He wanted to promote natural light in the day and reduce heat in the late afternoon. Also, in the San Jose City Hall building, the architect used the “brise soleil”, a curved metal, to create shadow and decrease temperature for the building. Likewise, in many parts of the Getty Center, Meier applied the metal line to reduce heat but doesn’t impact the daylight transfer into the building. For example, the entrance to the Museum displays the curvilinear metal to create shadow at that area. Therefore, both buildings have the same idea in using the materials to enhance the natural sunlight use and protect the building from overheat. In conclusion, the Getty Center is a masterpiece in the architectural field even though it required a lot of time and work to build. Because the building is on the top of the mountain and many heavy materials needed to be transferred, Meier and the constructors had to work harder to finish the job. However, the result of their hard work was the beautiful view and the impressive architecture. From the building, the visitors can enjoy the whole scene around. Also, using the sunlight and creating the natural garden make a peaceful atmosphere of the center. In addition, San Jose City Hall was later built with similar idea of the Getty Center. Both of them have glass walls to illuminate day lights and curved metal to reduce heat. Thus, the main theme of most of Meier’s work is to promote the use of natural resources and protect the environment.