An essay about Meyer Levin

I am also doing an analysis of Meyer's works, and this is the information I am looking for! Hope it’s useful to you

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Features of Meyer's works

Meyer's works are based on the theory of "conforming to nature". Surface materials are often white, lined with green natural scenery, which often makes the building fresh. , refined. The reason why Meyer insists that buildings must use bright white facades is because the strong contrast between white and nature can make people sincerely admire the colors of nature, allowing people to naturally blend in with the surrounding landscape. Together, this is where Meyer succeeds. This contrasting technique is also very common when dealing with interior spaces of buildings. For example, an exterior staircase with metal balustrades can be placed at the opposite corner of an interior staircase surrounded by heavy walls inside the house.

Meyer’s handling of the exterior styling of the building is also quite methodical. Through the virtuality of the public space and the solidity of the private space, as well as the horizontal and vertical cuts in the entire volume, one can feel the smoothness of the facade. Overall, Meyer's design philosophy is quite simple and clear, leaving no room for ambiguity. The ideals of modernism are fully revealed in his designs, such as "internal function determines external shape", "anti-decorative sculpture style" and "display of international styles" and so on. From Meyer's earliest design of the Smith House to today's various designs, we can see his persistence in his own architectural philosophy. He is also one of the few architects who remains unchanged in response to changes.

He is very good at designing a very harmonious relationship between the building itself and the surrounding environment. He uses vertical space and the reflection of natural light on the building inside the building to achieve a rich effect of light and shadow. He interprets old architectural vocabulary from a new perspective and recombines it in geometric space. He particularly advocated that the architectural style return to the Dutch style of the 1920s and the Cubist composition and light and shadow changes advocated by Le Corbusier, emphasizing the interspersion of surfaces, and paying attention to pure architectural space and volume.

Meyer once said: "I will skillfully use changes in light, scale and scenery, as well as the relationship between movement and stillness. Architecture is a very ideological science, which consists of moving space It is composed of static space. The concept of space is like the oxygen in the universe. Although I have always been concerned about the spatial structure, what I am referring to is not the abstract concept of space, but directly related to light, spatial scale and architectural culture. "White is an excellent color that can well separate the building from the local environment. Like porcelain, it can also make the building stand out from the dark." The sky shows its unique stylistic characteristics. Snow white is one of the biggest features in my works. It can illustrate architectural concepts and emphasize the function of visual images. White is also the best appreciation of light and shadow, emptiness and physical display. Therefore, in the traditional sense, white is a symbol of purity, transparency and perfection."

The Godfather of White Architecture

"White" is an indispensable element of Meyer's architecture, and white is. The wall is like drawing paper, on which light and shadow freely draw moving pictures. “White” is the first impression that Meyer’s works give us. Although the buildings of the White School are not necessarily white, as far as Meyer is concerned, the title of "White Godfather" is worthy of his name. In the face of all kinds of fashionable designs marked by colorful walls, red, yellow, blue and green pipes, and dazzling decorations, his white buildings have an otherworldly style. Contrary to the designs that exposed the true nature of materials that became popular after World War II, his white smooth surfaces have a distinctly unnatural effect. This is the characteristic of Meyer's architecture and the charm of his architecture - purity. However, purity does not mean monotony. A concise design can be a design full of artistic expression at the same time. If the large steel and glass spaces in Mies' later period give people a cold feeling, then Meyer's works have another story. mood. Although some of his materials come from modern architecture, the overall atmosphere does not have a boring atmosphere. This is because the volumes of some parts inside and outside are cleverly increased or decreased, giving the building a distinct sculptural flavor.

One by one, novel images are displayed in front of us: in a geometry dominated by straight lines, interspersed with curves from time to time, the interior scene is clearly shown through the elegantly proportioned glass walls. The alternation of these deep spaces and white solid walls creates a special sense of rhythm and rhythm. They are not due to repeated repetitions of the same compositional elements, nor are they due to a unilateral emphasis on horizontality or verticality, but rather Through some kind of internal echo, his buildings are filled with a certain artistic taste, giving people a comfortable and soft feeling and purifying their souls. (

Resume

American architect, an important representative of the White School in modern architecture. He studied at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and worked at S.O.M. in New York in his early years. He worked in architectural offices and Breuer's office, and held teaching positions at many universities; he opened his own business in 1963.

Meyer's works are based on the theory of "compliance with nature", and his surface materials are often white. , set off by green natural scenery, makes people feel fresh and refined. He is good at using white to express the harmonious relationship between the building itself and the surrounding environment, using vertical space and natural light reflection on the building to achieve a rich effect of light and shadow.

He interprets old architectural vocabulary from a new perspective and recombines it in geometric space. He particularly advocated returning to the Cubist composition and light and shadow changes advocated by the Dutch De Stijl and Le Corbusier in the 1920s, emphasizing the interspersion of surfaces, and paying attention to pure architectural space and volume.

Meyer’s representative works include the Museum of Decorative Arts in Frankfurt, The Hague City Hall and Central Library, the Douglas House in Michigan (1974), the Bronx Development Center in New York (1976), the New Harmony Literary Club (1978) and Atlanta High Museum of Art (1983), etc.

American neo-modernist architect, an important representative of the White School in modern architecture. He studied at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. In his early years, he worked at S.O.M Architectural Firm and Breuer Office in New York, and also held teaching positions at many universities; he opened his own business in 1963. Meyer was one of the "New York Five" whose works are often referred to as "white school" works.

Meyer's works are based on the theory of "conforming to nature". His surface materials are often white, and are set off by green natural scenery, making people feel fresh and refined. He is good at using white to express the harmonious relationship between the building itself and the surrounding environment. The vertical space and the reflection of natural light on the building are used inside the building to achieve the effect of rich light and shadow. He interprets old architectural vocabulary from a new perspective and recombines it in geometric space. He particularly advocated returning to the Cubist composition and light and shadow changes advocated by the Dutch De Stijl and Le Corbusier in the 1920s, emphasizing the interspersion of surfaces, and paying attention to pure architectural space and volume.

Richard Meier was born in Newark, New Jersey, USA in 1934. He was very interested in architecture when he was young. After graduating from high school, he entered the field of architecture. Studied architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since the United States had just become independent from Europe at that time, the entire society was still dependent on the continent, neither economically nor culturally. Therefore, when Richard Meyer graduated from college, he went to the European continent with the mood of a pilgrimage to explore the roots of traditional European architecture. He also visited Le Corbusier (1887-1965) and Alva Aalto (Alvar Aalto, 1898-1976), consulted them and discussed architectural concepts. This also had a considerable influence on Richard Meier's architectural thinking. After leaving Europe, he worked successively at SOM and Marcel Breur (1902-1981). Then in 1963, he ended his three-year client-host relationship with Marcel and started his own business.

In the early days of the firm, Richard Meyer took on small projects such as interior restoration. Afterwards, his parents asked him to design a house for them. For this reason, Richard Meyer went to the Falling Water Villa designed by Wright to experience the horizontal sense of space, and tried to extend Wright's indoor space to the external environment. techniques and apply them to your own designs. However, because the conditions of the two base environments were not exactly the same, Richard Meier was frustrated. Disappointed, he turned to study the works of other masters, and many of Le Corbusier's concepts But it happened to coincide with his ideas, so the seeds were planted to follow the route of Le Corbusier in Richard Meier's early works.

In 1967, Richard Meier designed his famous masterpiece, the Smith House. This design showed his respect for the natural environment and the relationship between the outdoors and outdoor light. , Richard Meier also put a lot of effort into it. For example, the rising sunlight accurately penetrates into the bedroom, and the soft afternoon sunlight penetrates into the living space. People can't help but admire the architect's intentions.

By 1970, Richard Meyer and Michael Grares (1934-), Charles Gwathmey (1938-), Peter Eisenman ( Five people including Peter Eisenmen (1932-) and John Hejduk (1929-2000) had the same ideas and similar views on modernist architecture, so they collected their works together and published them in a book. Their style is special, so they are called the New York Five. Their works have the same characteristic, that is, the appearance of the buildings is mostly smooth and pure white, with a modernist sculpture style, so they are also called White.

Due to his interest, Richard Meier also did a lot of research on "Collage". Meyer himself believed that he learned a lot from "Collage", and in fact This proves that in his designs, we can often see that he used many cut-out techniques such as "analyzing and reorganizing objects." Meyer himself admitted that he did not make any innovations in terms of styling. He just reorganized the vocabulary used by his predecessors to create some new meaning; for example, the Smith House is just Le Coeur. It’s just a reorganization of two archetypes, Busier’s Domino and Chitrohan.