The Getty Center in Los Angeles, United States of America
The Getty Center, in Los Angeles, California, is a campus of the Getty Museum and other programs of the Getty Trust.
The $1.3 billion Center opened to the public on December 16, 1997 and is well known for its architecture, gardens, and views overlooking Los Angeles.
The Center sits atop a hill connected to a visitors' parking garage at the bottom of the hill by a three-car, cable-pulled hovertrain people mover.
Located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, the Center is one of two locations of the J. Paul Getty Museum and draws 1.8 million visitors annually.
The Center branch of the Museum features pre-20th-century European paintings, drawings, illuminated manuscripts, sculpture, and decorative arts; and photographs from the 1830s through present day from all over the world.
In addition, the Museum's collection at the Center includes outdoor sculpture displayed on terraces and in gardens and the large Central Garden designed by Robert Irwin.
Among the artworks on display is the Vincent Van Gogh painting Irises.
Designed by architect Richard Meier, the campus also houses the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Conservation Institute, the Getty Foundation, and the J. Paul Getty Trust.
The Center's design included special provisions to address concerns regarding earthquakes and fires.
Meier has exploited the two naturally-occurring ridges by overlaying two grids along these axes.
These grids serve to define the space of the campus while dividing the import of the buildings on it.
Along one axis lie the galleries and along the other axis lie the administrative buildings.
Meier emphasized the two competing grids by constructing strong view lines through the campus.
The main north-south axis starts with the helipad, then includes a narrow walkway between the auditorium and north buildings, continues past the elevator kiosk to the tram station, through the rotunda, past the walls and support columns of the exhibitions pavilion, and finally the ramp besides the west pavilion and the central garden.
Its corresponding east-west visual axis starts with the edge of the scholar's wing of the Getty Research Institute (GRI), the walkway between the central garden and the GRI, the overlook to the azalea pool in the central garden, the walkway between the central garden and the west pavilion, and finally the north wall of the west pavilion and the courtyard between the south and east pavilions.
The main axes of the museum grid that is offset by 22.5 degrees begins with the arrival plaza, carries through the edge of the stairs up to the main entrance, aligns with the columns supporting the rotunda as well as the center point of the rotunda, aligns with travertine benches in the courtyard between the pavilions, includes a narrow walkway between the west and south pavilions, a staircase down to the cactus garden and ends in the garden.
The corresponding cross axis starts with the center point of the circle forming the GRI library garden, then passing to the center of the entrance rotunda, and aligning with the south wall of the rotunda building.
Although all of the Museum is aligned on these alternative axes, portions of the exhibitions pavilion and the east pavilion are aligned on the true north-south axis as a reminder that both grids are present in the campus.
The primary grid structure is a 30-inch square; most wall and floor elements are 30-inch squares or some derivative thereof.
The buildings at the Getty Center are made from concrete and steel with either travertine or aluminium cladding.
Around 110,000 m2 of travertine was used to build the Center.
Throughout the campus, numerous fountains provide white noise as a background.
The initial design has remained intact; however benches and fences have been installed around the plaza fountains to discourage visitors from wading into the pools.
Some additional revisions have been made in deference to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The north promontory is anchored by a circular grass area, which serves as a heliport in case of emergencies, and the south promontory is anchored by a succulent plant and cactus garden.
The complex is also encircled by access roads that lead to loading docks and staff parking garages on both the west and east sides of the buildings.
The hillside around the complex has been planted with California Live Oak trees.
The Museum has a seven-story deep underground parking garage with over 1,200 parking spaces.
Its roof has an outdoor sculpture garden.
An automated three-car, cable-pulled hovertrain people mover, the "Getty Center Tram", takes passengers between the parking garage at the bottom of the hill and the Museum at the top of the hill.
The J. Paul Getty Museum's estimated 1.8 million visitors annually make it one of the most visited museums in the United States.
The collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum on display at the Getty Center includes "pre-20th-century European paintings, drawings, illuminated manuscripts, sculpture, and decorative arts; and 19th- and 20th-century American and European photographs".
The Museum building consists of a three-level base building that is closed to the public and provides staff workspace and storage areas.
Five public, two-story towers on the base are called the North, East, South, West and the Exhibitions Pavilions.
The Exhibitions Pavilion acts as the temporary residence for traveling art collections and the Foundation's artwork for which the permanent pavilions have no room.
The permanent collection is displayed throughout the other four pavilions chronologically: the north houses the oldest art while the west houses the newest.
The first-floor galleries in each pavilion house light-sensitive art, such as illuminated manuscripts, furniture, or photography.
Computer-controlled skylights on the second-floor galleries allow paintings to be displayed in natural light.
The second floors are connected by a series of glass-enclosed bridges and open terraces, both of which offer views of the surrounding hillsides and central plaza.
Sculpture is also on display at various points outside the buildings, including on various terraces and balconies.
The lower level includes a public cafeteria, the terrace cafe, and the photography galleries.
The 12,400 m2 Central Garden at the Getty Center is the work of artist Robert Irwin.
Planning for the garden began in 1992, construction started in 1996, and the garden was completed in December 1997.
Irwin was quoted as saying that the Central Garden "is a sculpture in the form of a garden, which aims to be art."
Water plays a major role in the garden.
A fountain near the restaurant flows toward the garden and appears to fall into a grotto on the north garden wall.
The resulting stream then flows down the hillside into the azalea pool.
The designers placed rocks and boulders of varying size in the stream bed to vary the sounds from the flowing water.
A tree-lined stream descends to a plaza, while the walkway criss-crosses the stream, which continues through the plaza, and goes over a stone waterfall into a round pool.
A maze of azaleas floats in the pool, around which is a series of specialty gardens.
More than 500 varieties of plant material are used for the Central Garden, but the selection is "always changing, never twice the same".
After the original design, an outdoor sculpture garden, called the "Lower Terrace Garden" was added in 2007 on the west side of the central garden just below the scholar's wing of the GRI building.
The Getty Research Institute (GRI) is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts."
Among other holdings, GRI's research library contains over 900,000 volumes of books, periodicals, and auction catalogs; special collections; and two million photographs of art and architecture.
GRI's other activities include exhibitions, publications, and a residential scholars program.
At the Getty Center, GRI is located to the west of the Museum.
The round building encircles a landscaped garden and is located to the west of the central garden.
The main entrance of GRI is connected by a terrace to the main arrival court of the Museum, with outdoor sculptures placed along the route.
GRI has one art gallery on its entrance level that is open to the public.
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