On the hilltop - panoramic view of the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California

Architectural Review, The, Feb, 1998

These fragmentary statements by Richard Meier, over a decade ago, have heralded what we see today.

'In my mind's eye, I see a classic structure, elegant and timeless, emerging, serene and ideal from the rough hillside, a kind of Aristotelian structure within the landscape.'

'Sometimes I think that the landscape overtakes it, and sometimes I see the structure as standing out, dominating the landscape. The two are entwined in a dialogue, a perpetual embrace in which building and site are one.'

'In my mind, I keep returning to the Romans - to Hadrian's Villa, to Caprarola - for their sequences, their spaces, their thick-walled presence, their sense of order, the way in which building and landscape belong to each other.'

'Besides its topography, the most powerful aspect of the Getty site is the quality of light that is natural to it, which is astonishingly beautiful. That clear, golden California light is ... intoxicating to an Easterner. I long to make walls that have openings for the glorious light to flood through, casting crisp, delicious shadows. I am eager to see built structures set against that brilliant blue sky of southern California.'

'I can envisage a complex based on a horizontal layering of spaces, interconnected around courtyards on different levels, large and small rooms opening out to the landscape, a series of interior and exterior spaces that relate both to the site and to the nature of the [art] collection.' (Richard Meier, 12 October 1984, New York)

THE GETTY CENTER, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA ARCHITECT RICHARD MEIER & PARTNERS, ARCHITECTS

Arriving in Los Angeles by aeroplane, or approaching the Getty citadel by freeway from north or south, by both day or night, the acropolian form is immediately visible - a massive stone, metal and glass complex crowning its hilltop and set among a grid of over 3000 California live oaks that otherwise cover the natural undeveloped slopes. The presence of the Center is all pervasive in its city context.

Having reached the site entry by vehicle, the circular arrival court is controlled by two cylindrical kiosks in white steel signalling Meier's presence, then you enter the first level of the six floor/1200 place parking structure, buried in the hillside base, alongside and below the San Diego Freeway. Huge lifts provide the transition to the train station, one level above.

The station, with its double barrel-vaulted roof, is the first introduction to both the journey as an event and to the travertine flooring and superb square-cut box hedges used extensively in the main buildings. It also serves to signify the luxurious quality that underscores the whole undertaking - even the floors of the station's rest-rooms are in black-veined white marble, with exquisite stainless-steel installations.

As the silent white automated trams depart and slip under the station roof-vaults, the distant view of the citadel is suddenly framed and revealed. The ensuing serpentine climb of the tram track then takes over and provides constantly changing vistas of both the building clusters and the freeway, and Los Angeles itself, spreading southwards below.

The upward journey is both symbolic - reminiscent of the ascent to the Acropolis in Athens and the Alhambra at Granada - and a peaceful, contemplative interval (a client requirement) between the speed of the freeway, leaving the car behind, and anticipating the peace and splendour of the arrival at the threshold of the exhilarating complex of architecture and landscape, vistas and sky all in unison.

Arrival

The first physical encounter with the buildings includes Trust Point, the northernmost promontory (the helipad with its terraced gardens), and the curvilinear foyers of the 450 seat galleried conference auditorium.

And then again suddenly, the magnificent arrival plaza (pp34-35) is revealed, flanked on the left side by the north and east buildings and on the right by the restaurant and cafe. The tram comes to rest under an extended white cantilevered steel and glass roof with the adjacent lift marked by an outrigged planar screen, which recalls the 'villa' entrance of Meier's Barcelona Museum (see AR March 1997).

Alighting from the tram, on to the 7 1/2in square hard travertine paviors, the generosity and splendour of this first major public space with its sense of enclosure and activity, offers the promise of much more beyond. Immediately ahead is a truly massive stair of heroic Roman proportions, flanked on one side by terraced levels of abundant planting and a water cascade, and on the other by an equally heroic ramp, which is partly occasioned by requirements for firetruck access to the upper museum entrance and courtyard level.

The elegant proportions of the gently ascending staircase evoke memories of the Spanish Steps in Rome. The stair culminates in the revelation of the almost unbelievable vistas to east, west and south. In the early morning, the all-encircling stone forms are silver, in the evening gold. In the golden California light and the clarity of the pure blue skies - the air at this elevation is especially clear - the effect is very difficult to describe, it has to be experienced: taken together and especially in early evening at sunset, the place is truly elating and heavenly.