Richard Meier, 49, received his architectural training at Cornell University. His practice has included housing and private residences, museums, high-tech and medical facilities, commercial buildings, and such major civic commissions as courthouses and city halls in the United States, Europe and Asia.

His most renowned projects include: the High Museum in Atlanta; the Frankfurt Museum for Decorative Arts in Germany; Canal+ Television Headquarters in Paris; the Hartford Seminary in Connecticut; the Atheneum in New Harmony, Indiana; and the Bronx Developmental Center in New York, all of which received National Honor Awards from the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

In 1984, Mr. Meier was awarded the Pritzker Prize, considered the field's highest honor. In the same year, Mr. Meier was selected as Architect for the prestigious commission to design the new Getty Center in Los Angeles. Among projects recently completed by Richard Meier & Partners are: the City Hall and Central Library in the Hague; the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona; the Stadthaus (Civic Exhibition and Assembly Building) in Ulm, Germany; Hypobank Headquarters in Luxembourg, the North American Headquarters building for Swissair in Melville, New York and the Museum of Television & Radio in Los Angeles. In addition to the Getty Center now under construction and scheduled to open to the public in 1997, the firm is currently at work on the United States Federal Courthouses in Islip, New York and Phoenix, Arizona, and the Euregio Bank building in Basel, Switzerland.

In 1989, Richard Meier received the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and received a Medal of Honor from the New York chapter of that organization in 1980. His numerous design awards include 12 national AIA Honor Awards and 31 New York AIA Design Awards, as well as the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize for the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. In 1990, Mr. Meier was elected to the Belgian Royal Academy of Art; in 1991, he received an Honorary Doctorate degree from the University of Naples. The French Government honored Mr. Meier in 1992 as a Commander of Arts and Letters, and in 1995, he was elected Fellow to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.