In October 1984, following an eighteen-month selection process, architect Richard Meier was chosen to design the Getty Center. This book summarizes the processes involved in selecting an architect and building site and discusses the creation of the overall architectural program. The architectural design development drawings by Richard Meier and Partners are the major focus of this book. Numerous photographs of the site and of the presentation models are included. The text provides an insider’s view of the history of the building project and the design process.

Richard Meier is the recipient of the 1984 Pritzker Architecture Prize, the profession’s most prestigious award and is the designer of many building projects in the United States and Europe. The Getty Center, which will occupy a stunning 110-acre hilltop in west Los Angeles, will provide a permanent home for the various operating entities of the J. Paul Getty Trust, including the new Museum, the Getty Conservation Institute, the Center for Education in the Arts, the Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, the Art History Information Program, and the Getty Grant Program.

• Project Chronology
• Introduction
  Harold M. Williams
• The Architect Selection and Design Advisory Committees
  Bill Lacy
• The Architectural Program
  Stephen D. Rountree
• The Design Process
  Richard Meier
• The Site
• Preliminary Designs
• Final Design, May 1991
• Excerpts from the Architectural Program
• Project Credits