Richard Meier interview for Architectural Digest (cateva intrebari

generale)

AD: Youve done quite a few important museums worldwide. What draws you to
those commissions?

RM: If I had my druthers, I would do a lot more. Each museum is differentthe

collection is different, the context is different, the relationship between the art and
architecture is different. So we learn a lot, and each museum ends up having its
own distinctive character and personality. Ultimately its the public nature of those
projects that I most enjoy. Museums are more than just places to view art, theyre
also civic and social centers.

AD: How do you approach your projects?

RM: We look at each one and consider the contextwhat it is and what it can be
beyond the strictly functional concerns. We think about its public nature and
how that can be enhanced, how the spaces we create can enliven the experience
of being there.

AD: Why has white been such a presence in your work?

RM: Whiteness allows the architectural ideas to be understood most clearlythe

difference between opacity and transparency, solid and void, structure and
surface. These things are more perceptible in a white environment. They have a
greater clarity.

INTERVIEW FOR CURBED

What are some lesser-known commissions that have meant more you then a
casual observer might pick up on?
The building in Ulm has always been important to me because of where it's located;
we designed the square in front of the cathedral that hadn't been finished in 200
years. Different buildings have different meanings.
Interview for Architects Journal
You completed the Ulm Stadthaus 22 years ago and now it is showcasing your
lifes work. Whats the significance of the project to you?
Part of doing the Stadthaus was to complete the cathedral square in Ulm its a
magnificent structure. But the space in front of it was never completed. It was just a
parking lot. In doing Stadthaus we completed the cathedral square. Its not a big
project, what was unusual about it was that the programme was pretty loose. It was
some exhibition space, a restaurant, a meeting room. Its place in the city, its context
was very important. So it became something of interest to the people Ulm. It is a very
conservative city. All the buildings have steep, pitched roofs, so having a modern
structure there was a bit of a shock to some of the elderly people.

Richard Meier comments: Building the Ulm Stadthaus and the Mnsterplatz in
Germany has been a rare and uniquely gratifying experience. Twenty-two years after
completing this project it is an honor to have our work on display at a building and
civic space that we designed and represents the design philosophy of our Firm.
New York Times Ulm, Germany becomes an island of art

While its famous Gothic cathedral emerged virtually unscathed by Allied

bombings, many historic quarters in the immediate vicinity were
decimated. The gaps were often filled by the anonymous, hastily erected
architecture of the 1950s, by cheerless pedestrian zones and arrow-
straight speedways for the automobiles that became a symbol of
Germany's economic miracle. Indeed, many historic buildings that survived
the war were sacrificed to the new cult of mobility.

What resulted was an urban hodgepodge - from narrow lanes twisting

through rows of half-timbered fisherman's cottages along the Danube to
the yawning void surrounding the celebrated minster. Begun in 1377 and
only completed in 1890, the cathedral has the highest church tower in the
world, yet the elegantly filigreed structure seemed to have been
abandoned here in a sea of concrete shared with a makeshift bus station.
That impression changed dramatically in 1993, when the New York
architect Richard Meier restructured the square with a gracefully
modulated, multi-functional "Stadthaus." It contains facilities for
exhibitions, musical events and conferences, as well as a restaurant and
commercial spaces. (At the same time, in the nearby town of Schwendi,
Meier also built an administrative and training center for Weishaupt's firm,
with adjoining exhibition spaces. This was the beginning of the collector's
coming-out.)

The Bauhaus heritage of the Ulm Stadthaus, as reinterpreted by an

American master-builder, was not without irony. One of the great design
movements in postwar Germany also had conspicuous roots in the
Bauhaus tradition. The bold but short-lived Ulm School of Design was
launched in 1953 by the Swiss sculptor-painter-architect Max Bill, who had
studied at the Bauhaus in Dessau from 1927 to 1929. Though the Ulm
academy itself survived for less than two decades, it left an indelible
impression on post-modern design throughout Europe. In this sense,
Meier's building - though decried by traditionalists as resembling nothing
so much as a stranded ocean liner - was less foreign to the local spirit than
appeared at first glance. It also demonstrated the power of a single, iconic
structure to refocus and redefine the surrounding cityscape.
Architecture week
Construction of the Ulm Minster and the space around it have been going on since
the foundation stones were laid in 1377. The steeple was topped out only in 1890.
The town's population has waxed and waned over the centuries, but a market has
always been held on the parvis in front of the cathedral.

As the church grew in size and importance, its spatial setting was found inadequate
for such a huge building. In particular, a medieval monastery just south and west of
the cathedral crowded it; the monastery was torn down in the late 19th century. But
no one had planned what was to replace the monastery, and the town argued over
the issue throughout most of 100 years. Several architectural competitions were held,
but were inconclusive

World War II put a halt to the discussion, and after the war a rather banal group of
three- and four-story buildings was erected in line with the previous western facades,
topped by roofs with gables similar to those that had been destroyed. No attention
was given to the footprint of the old monastery.

After more fruitless competitions, ten internationally recognized architects were

invited to submit plans for Ulm's Stadthaus, an information center. The commission
went to Richard Meier, an American architect whose designs have often been
distinguished by the purity of their whiteness. (The citizens of Ulm may have been
comfortable with white, since most of the town's half-timber buildings have white
stucco infill.)

While the brilliant white building that Meier designed for the gap in Ulm's
Mnsterplatz is complex and beautiful, it neither aims to evoke the original monastery
nor blends inconspicuously into its context. Rather, the architect took on the problem
and created the right solution. Meier's Stadthaus contains a tourist information facility,
a gallery, meeting places, and a pleasant cafe.

One must admire the crisp clarity of most of the cathedral square's recent furnishings
and fittings. The pattern of the paving, in Meier's hallmark Cartesian arrangement of
gray granite, was inspired by features of the cathedral's facade. It determines the
placement of newly planted trees, which to some extent screen the uninteresting
postwar buildings. Even the access plates for the electrical and plumbing services
required for the daily market fit into the pattern, although the market wagons that roll
in each morning don't seem to be governed by the architect's grid.

Also worth noting is Ulm's decision to abandon the model of its old gabled buildings
for the continued reconstruction of the area around the Mnsterplatz. The city
selected instead a group of architects, including a former associate of
Meier's, Wolfram Whr, to design of a set of related white, flat-roofed buildings that
continue the line of Hirschstrasse as it joins Neue Strasse toward the east.

In comparison with Freiburg, Ulm had ample space around its cathedral. After
creating a surrounding set of new facades where its old buildings had been, Ulm
chose to fill the space like a park with trees and minor structures that heighten the
drama of the parvis in front of the cathedral. Meier's civic structure and the
cathedral's tower clasp the rounded space, while gentle trees and friendly shops
encompass the flanks of the church.

The market activity is thereby controlled within the resulting space.

This use of exterior enclosure is neither better nor worse than Freiburg's; it's just
different, although Ulm's is undeniably more venturesome. Ulm has come to love its
brilliant white Stadthaus, and the buildings that redefine the north side of the Neue
Strasse form a most successful extension.
Mnsterplatz
Ulm, Germany

Plan Dimensions: 295 by 395 feet (90 by 120 meters), cathedral parvis
Ratio of Width to Length: 1:1 (approximately square)

Area: 2.6 acres (1.1 hectares)

Typical Height to Skyline: 65 feet (20 meters)

Highest Point: 530 feet (161.5 meters), top of the spire

Ratio of Width to Skyline Height:4:1

Angle of View from the Foot of the Church to the Skyline:12 degrees

Key Date: 1377, start of cathedral construction

Sources of drawing data:Cadastral map from the city of Ulm