Richard Meier

Richard Meier (born October 12, 1934) is an American abstract artist and architect, whose geometric designs make prominent use of the color white. A winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1984, some of his more iconic buildings include the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art and the Getty Center in Los Angeles.

Biography

Life

Meier was born to a Jewish family, the oldest of three sons of Jerome Meier, wholesale wine and liquor salesman, and Carolyn Kaltenbacher in Newark, New Jersey. He grew up in nearby Maplewood, where he attended Columbia High School. He earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University in 1957.

After graduation, Meier traveled to Israel, Greece, Germany, France, Denmark, Finland. and Italy, among other places, to network with architects.

Meier is also the second cousin of the architect, theorist, and fellow member of The New York Five, Peter Eisenman.

Career

In New York City, Meier worked for Skidmore, Owings and Merrill briefly in 1959, and then for Marcel Breuer for three years, prior to starting his own practice in 1963. In 1972, he was identified as one of The New York Five, a group of modernist architects: Meier, Peter Eisenman, Michael Graves, Charles Gwathmey, and John Hejduk. Early in his career, Meier worked with artists such as painter Frank Stella and favored structure that were white and geometric.

Richard

The Germanic first or given name Richard derives from German, French, and English "ric" (ruler, leader, king) and "hard" (strong, brave), and it therefore means "powerful leader". Nicknames include "Dick", "Dickie", "Rich", "Richie", "Rick", "Ricky", "Rickey", and others.

"Richard" is a common name in many Germanic languages, including English, German, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, and Dutch. It can also be used as a French, Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian name.

People named Richard

Rulers and aristocrats

Architectural Digest

Architectural Digest is an American monthly magazine founded in 1920. Its principal subject is interior design, not architecture more generally, as the name of the magazine suggests. The magazine is published by Condé Nast, which also publishes eight international editions of Architectural Digest.

Architectural Digest is aimed at an affluent and style-conscious readership, and is subtitled "The International Design Authority". The magazine also oversees the AD100, a list of top 100 architects and interior designers around the world.

History

Originally a quarterly trade directory called The Architectural Digest: A Pictorial Digest of California's Best Architecture, the magazine was launched in 1920 by John Coke Brasfield (1880—1965), a Tennessee-born importer and advertising executive who founded the John C. Brasfield Publishing Corporation, which was based in Los Angeles, California. Interiors and exteriors of residences were featured in the magazine, along with floor plans.

Four Corners (Newark)

Four Corners at the intersection of Broad and Market Streets in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, United States, is the site of the city's earliest settlement and the heart of Downtown that at one time was considered the busiest intersection in the United States. A twenty-two-square-block area radiating from the crossroads is a state and federal historic district.

The crossing became the center of the town soon after establishment in 1666; the home of founder Robert Treat was located at the southwest corner. During the next centuries it remained the focal point of the city which grew around it. By 1834 the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company had established a terminal to the south and in 1869 the Newark and New York Railroad had one to the north. During the period of massive expansion at the start of the 20th century, the district became the city's modern business district, and site of its first skyscraper built by the Fireman's Insurance Company at the southeast corner in 1910. The Newark Public Service Terminal on Broad Street opened in 1916. Though faded in its former glory, the Four Corners district remains Newark's traditional center for commerce and business and since the late 2000s (decade) the focus of much interest in revitalizing retail, residential, and restaurant activity downtown.

Massimo Vignelli

Massimo Vignelli (Italian pronunciation: [ˈmassimo viɲˈɲɛlli]; January 10, 1931 – May 27, 2014) was an Italian designer who worked in a number of areas ranging from package design through houseware design and furniture design to public signage and showroom design. He was the co-founder of Vignelli Associates, with his wife, Lella. His ethos was, "If you can design one thing, you can design everything," and this was reflected in the broad range of his work.

Vignelli worked firmly within the Modernist tradition, and focused on simplicity through the use of basic geometric forms in all his work.

Life

Vignelli studied architecture at the Politecnico di Milano and later at the Università di Architettura, Venice.

From 1957 to 1960, he visited America on a fellowship, and returned to New York in 1966 to start the New York branch of a new company, Unimark International, which quickly became, in scope and personnel, one of the largest design firms in the world. The firm went on to design many of the world's most recognizable corporate identities, including that of American Airlines (which forced him to incorporate the eagle, Massimo was always quick to point out). Vignelli designed the iconic signage for the New York City Subway system during this period, and the 1970s–80s map of the system. Contrary to news reports, Vignelli did not design the Washington Metro Map, which was designed by Lance Wyman and Bill Cannan. Vignelli created the signage and wayfinding system for the DC Metro and suggested it be named "Metro" like many other capital city subways. Its original name was a mishmash of various states and transportation groups.