Article 2: The Getty

According to Wikipedia :
The Getty Center, designed by architect Richard Meier, is the $300 million flagship museum of the J. Paul Getty Trust, the largest arts endowment in history (at over $3 billion).[1] It has a seven-story deep underground parking garage with over 1,200 parking spaces. It is located on a hill in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California overlooking Interstate 405 and is open to the public for free (although there is a charge for parking). The Getty Center is high enough that on a clear day, it is possible to see the snow at Big Bear as well as the Pacific Ocean and the entire Los Angeles basin. Much of the buildings and grounds are made of travertine. Other parts are made of white or beige enamel plates. The design is based upon a 30 inch grid with all wall and floor elements composed of 30 inch squares or some multiple of it. (The smallest elements are 7.5 inch floor tiles.)

USGS satellite image of the Getty Center.
The galleries are housed in four separate two story towers which sit on a main three-story building which is closed to the public. Central to the design is a main entry hall, with a circular design which mediates the 22 degree angle between the grid of the gallery buildings and the grid of the administrative buildings to the North.
The north axis is anchored by a circular grass area which serves as a heliport in case of emergencies, and the south axis is anchored by a cactus garden.
A grand central staircase in the entry hall lures visitors to the second floor galleries which display paintings using natural light from computer-controlled skylights. The second floors of the four gallery towers are connected by glass enclosed bridges offering views of the hillsides and of the central plaza. Numerous outdoor terraces and balconies allow visitors to stop and appreciate the views.
The first floor galleries house light-sensitive art, such as furniture or photographs. The sequence of these gallaries are interrupted by various lobbies which invite visitors to return to the central plaza.
Throughout the design, numerous fountains provide white noise as a background.
The initial design has remained in tact, except that benches and fences have been installed around the plaza fountains to discourage visitors from wading in the pools and fences close off the entry ramp to discourage skate boarders. An automated, three-car tram takes passengers to and from the museum.

Central Garden

The central garden in November.
The 134,000-square-foot Central Garden at the Getty Center is the work of artist Robert Irwin. The design of the Central Garden re-establishes the natural ravine between the Museum and the Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities with a tree-lined walkway. The walkway traverses a stream planted on each side with a variety of grasses and gradually descends to a plaza where bougainvillea arbors provide scale. The stream continues through the plaza and ends in a cascade of water over a stone waterfall into a pool in which a maze of azaleas floats. Around the pool is a series of specialty gardens, each with a variety of plant material.
The process of creating the Central Garden began for Irwin in 1992, when he started working with Harold M. Williams and Stephen D. Rountree of the J. Paul Getty Trust in consultation with Richard Meier. Irwin also worked closely with Richard Naranjo, the Getty’s manager of grounds and gardens, and the landscape architecture firm of Spurlock Poirier, in finalizing all facets of the garden.

Current Exhbitions:
The Getty Centre in LA: Icons from Sinai
The Getty Villa in Malibu: Stories in Stone: Conserving Mosaics of Roman Africa, Masterpieces from the National Museums of Tunisia
Also on View: http://www.getty.edu/visit/exhibitions/