Richard Meier (born October 12, 1934) is an American architect, whose rationalist buildings make prominent use of the color white.

Biography
Meier is Jewish  and was born in Newark, New Jersey.  He earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University in 1957, worked for Skidmore, Owings and Merrill briefly in 1959, and then for Marcel Breuer for three years, prior to starting his own practice in New York in 1963. Identified as one of The New York Five in 1972, his commission of the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California catapulted his popularity into the mainstream. Richard Meier & Partners Architects has offices in New York and Los Angeles with current projects ranging from China and Tel Aviv to Paris and Hamburg.

Much of Meier's work builds on
 the work of architects of the early to mid-20th century, especially that of Le Corbusier and, in particular, Le Corbusier's early phase. Meier has built more using Corbusier's ideas than anyone, including Le Corbusier himself[citation needed]. Meier expanded many ideas evident in Le Corbusier's work, particularly the Villa Savoye and the Swiss Pavilion.

His work also reflects the influences of other designers such as Mies Van der Rohe and, in some instances, Frank Lloyd Wright and Luis Barragán (without the colour)[citation needed]. White has been used in many architectural landmark buildings throughout history, including cathedrals and the white-washed villages of the Mediterranean region, in Spain, southern Italy and Greece.

In 1984, Meier was awarded the Pritzker Prize. In 2008, he won the gold medal in architecture from the Academy of Arts and Letters and his work Jesolo Lido Village was awarded the Dedalo Minosse International Prize for commissioning a building. Meier is a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council. He was awarded the AIA Gold Medal in 1997.

The Mayor of Rome Gianni Alemanno included in his campaign platform a promise to tear down the big travertine wall of Meier's Ara Pacis.

Mayor Alemmano has since changed his stance on the building and has agreed with Mr. Meier to modifications including drastically reducing the height of the wall between an open-air space outside the museum and a busy road along the Tiber river. The city plans to build a wide pedestrian area along the river and run the road underneath it. "It's an improvement," says Meier, adding that "the reason that wall was there has to do with traffic and noise. Once that is eliminated, the idea of opening the piazza to the river is a good one." The mayor’s office said Alemanno hopes to complete the project before the end of his term in 2013.

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

Works

Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art

The Atheneum in New Harmony, Indiana, United States.

Museum of Television and Radio, Beverly Hills, California

Ara Pacis Museum, Rome

Westbeth Artists Community, New York City, 1970
Condominium of the Olivetti Training Center in Tarrytown, New York, 1971
Meier House, Essex Fells, New Jersey, 1965
Smith House, Darien, Connecticut, 1965–1967
Douglas House, Harbor Springs, Michigan, 1973
Bronx Developmental Center, The Bronx, New York, 1976
The Atheneum, New Harmony, Indiana, 1979
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, 1983
Modern Art Wing Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa, 1984
Museum für angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany, 1985
Daimler-Benz Forschungszentrum, today: Daimler Forschungszentrum, Ulm, Germany, 1992
Stadthaus Ulm, Ulm, Germany, 1994
Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona, Spain, 1995
City Hall and Central Library, The Hague, Netherlands, 1995
Edinburgh Park Masterplan, 1995
Rachofsky House, Dallas, Texas, 1996
Neugebauer House, Naples, Florida, 1998
The Paley Center for Media, formerly The Museum of Television & Radio, Beverly Hills, California, 1996
Getty Center, Los Angeles, California, 1997
Camden Medical Centre, Singapore, 1998
White Plaza, Basel, Switzerland, 1998
173/176 Perry Street, Manhattan, 1999–2002
Sandra Day O'Connor United States Courthouse, Phoenix, Arizona, 2000
Peek & Cloppenburg flagship store, Düsseldorf, Germany, 2001
Centre for Possibility thinking, Garden Grove, California, 2003
Jubilee Church, Rome, Italy 2003
Museum Frieder Burda, Baden Baden, Germany, 2004
Ara Pacis Museum, Rome, Italy, 2006  (There has been talk of dismantling and relocating the museum since the election of Gianni Alemanno in 2008)
City Tower, Prague, Czech Republic, 2004–2007
Arp Museum, Remagen-Rolandseck, Germany 2008
San Jose City Hall, San Jose, California, 2004–2007
University of Scranton, Connolly Hall, 2007
Weill Hall, Ithaca, New York, 2008
Meier Tower, Tel Aviv, Israel (2008–present)
On Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY, 2003-2008
International Coffee Plaza, Hamburg, Germany, 2010
Vinci Partners Corporate Headquarters, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2012