Richard Meier Makes Major Donation to Cornell
"It was just a wonderful place to study," recalls the architect Richard Meier of his time at Cornell University. Today, Meier will announce a major gift to his alma mater. The donation (of which a monetary amount will not be disclosed) is trifold: it will establish the Richard Meier Chair of the Department of Architecture, the Richard Meier Assistant Professorship, and the Richard and Ana Meier M.Arch Awards. The latter scholarship fund, named for Meier's wife, will specifically target recruitment of women applicants to the school's graduate architecture program.
The donation comes in time with the 55th anniversary of Richard Meier and Partners, the firm Meier founded after cutting his teeth for the likes of Marcel Breuer, Frank Stella, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. In speaking to the architect, it becomes clear that his wide range of interests and talents are most likely a product, if not a direct result, of his time at Cornell.
"Being the extraordinary University that it is, in studying architecture you had the opportunity to take courses outside the school of Architecture," Meier recalls of his curriculum. "I took a course in Russian literature from Nabokov; I took a government course from Arch Dotson that was phenomenal; a course in 20th-century art with Alan Solomon, which was truly extraordinary. The university has so much to offer."
Little surprise then, that when asked if he has strong opinions on the direction of the University's tutelage, Meier demurs. "They know what they're doing," he quips "It's not for me to tell them how to run things."
That said, Meier is acutely aware of the changes in architecture education since his own college years. "When I was studying history of architecture, we had someone teaching it with slides that must have been 50 years old," he recalls. "That's all changed. Today, it's all up to date. With computer technology, students are learning how to do things that are advanced and make them able to contribute once they graduate and start working."
Meier still has fond memories of hours spent in the design studio and classes at Cornell and has maintained a close relationship with the university over the years, designing the Weill Hall research building on its Ithaca, New York, campus, and making frequent visits there for talks and events as well as workshops with architecture students.
His gift is the latest proof of the school's lasting influence on his prolific career. "Looking back and thinking about my career and how important my education was, it's a tribute to what was given to me."
