Outline Architecture

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Hannah McAllister

Professor Deborah Bird

History of Architecture 24A

6th December 2020

Historical/Contemporary Comparison: The Acropolis of Athens and The Getty Center

The Acropolis of Athens overlooks Athens, Greece as it stands above the historical city

on a hill. It is home to various buildings constructed at various times before the 6th century B.C.

Likewise, The Getty Center art museum is planted on the top of a hill of the Santa Monica

Mountains in Los Angeles, California, and is home to artwork from the prestigious J. Paul Getty

Trust. Both architectural works are highly acclaimed and widely known throughout the world.

Both the Acropolis and the Getty Center are two famous landmark-type structures and share

commonalities in form and structure. They are different from each other in regards to the

location built, societal usage and meaning for their time, but both have resounding, shared

qualities. Through this research paper I will be comparing and contrasting, as well as analyzing,

these two works of architecture, their significance in time and to their society, and their

architectural significance contemporarily and historically.

Fig. 1 ​Acropolis of Athens​, taken from Fig 2. ​The Getty Center Museum​, taken from Athenswalkingtours.gr ​ ​DiscoverLosAngeles.com​, photo by Nancy D.

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The Acropolis of Athens is a citadel in Greece built on a limestone hill comprising four

major structures. The word Acropolis in Greek comes from the words ‘akron’ meaning summit,

and ‘polis’ meaning city. The first construction to be done on the hill was by the Mycenaean

civilization in the latter half of the Bronze age. This type of location for a citadel was

characteristic of the Mycenaean civilization, people who were known for building cities as

defensive strongholds on top of hills. (HISTORY)​ ​Later, the Acropolis was built over the

remains of the Mycenaean citadel by the Athenians, and in the end of the 5th century B.C. it had

been under the rule of a man named Pericles. A man who made significant contributions to what

the Acropolis is well-known for today by commanding the construction of the main buildings

and structures of the Acropolis.

The Getty Center Museum, which resides in the hills above Los Angeles, California, is

named after wealthy petrol-industrialist J. Paul Getty. Designed primarily by Architect Richard

Meier, and constructed in the 1990s, the purpose of the Getty Center Museum was to house Mr.

Getty’s Trusts’ priceless and expanding art collection while simultaneously exhibiting it for the

public. (Who We Are) The building type of the Getty Center museum is modern, and pulls

influence from contemporary architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright. But the Getty Center is also

traditional, having influences from Rome, being made mostly of concrete, and limestone rock

called travertine from Bagni Di Tivoli, Italy, while significant structural accents of glass and

steel contribute to its modern structure.

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Fig. 3 ​Site Plan of Acropolis​, taken from ​legacy.earlham.edu

The Acropolis first began as a defensive city but in the 5th century B.C., the Golden Age

of Athens, Athenian ruler Pericles commissioned the four major structures of the Acropolis,

mainly the Parthenon, and changed much of the Acropolis function. Adding these structures, the

Parthenon, Erechtheion, Propylaia, the Temple of Athena Nike, the Acropolis enhanced the

successful Greek city of trade and politics. The Parthenon was the central attraction, having

ornate sculptures and a grand statue of the goddess Athena, it was a large Doric-style temple, and

still today dominates the scene of the Acropolis. As it sits on its hill overlooking Athens, its

sense of dominance and permanence is a resounding feature for all to witness and admire. Much

like the Acropolis’ sense of permanence that it gives off from its standing on the hilltop and its

great structures and buildings, the Getty Center also has a sense of lasting foundation. Richard

Meier even said that he was inspired by the Acropolis’ ideas of procession, circulation, and

movement. (​Making Architecture 33)​ The Getty Center is described much like a university

campus for its different building parts, garden courtyards, and cafes, all that act as individual

pieces but work together to become a whole that provides a space for researchers, staff, and

visitors. Richard Meier was inspired by the clash of nature and the cultural world of Los

Angeles, how the museum is its own part away from the city yet because it is so near to it,

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overlooks it, and neighbors residential areas, the Getty Center feels as one with its surroundings

of nature and the city.

Fig. 4 Site Plan of ​Upper Level of Getty Center​, taken from ​richardmeier.com, ​by Richard Meier

The sites on which both the citadel and the museum are built on are quite similar. The

Acropolis is built on a flattened limestone hill about 7.5 acres, and the Getty Center is built on a

leveled dirt hill on 110 acres. Interestingly, the formation of the buildings on both sites are

similar but also very different in style and presentation. The Getty Center Trusts’ main building

on the site is the Research and Conservation Institute, which is located on the southwest side of

the site. Similarly to the Parthenon, the main attraction of the Acropolis, it was not a building

that was in the center of the site, it was on the south side facing east. Both of these buildings, the

Research and Conservation Institute and the Parthenon, are very much the main focus of the sites

but are not “front and center”, rather, they’re well incorporated with all the other buildings while

still maintaining their individuality and importance on the site. So because these two buildings

are considered to be the main attractions every other building seems to be constructed to work

around and with the main buildings of the Institute at the Getty Center and the Parthenon on the

Acropolis.

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​Fig. 5 ​Parthenon of Acropolis, ​taken from Flickr, photo by Steve Swayne

Fig 6. ​Getty Research Institute, ​taken from getty.edu

For Athens culturally, the Parthenon was dedicated to goddess Athena and represented a

greater sense of quality and Greek standard as regards to architecture. In ​Understanding

Architecture, ​the Parthenon is described as becoming “a singular symbol of the clarity and

precision of ancient Greek architecture”, (219) displaying to all visitors and the culture of Athens

its power and prominence. In this way, the Acropolis was a contributing part to the rich

development of Greek architecture and cultural greatness. Just how Athens was growing to be a

successful trade and politics city at the time, so through the building of the Acropolis and

Parthenon, the power and prosperity of the Greek culture was more noticeably seen and admired.

But change of the Acropolis occurred when invaders captured, burned, and attacked Athens, and

the Acropolis became many different things to various other people at different points in time.

Christian churches, mosques, barracks, and storerooms for ammunition were all incorporated

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into the Acropolis at one time or another. (HISTORY)​ ​After the official Greek independence in

1822 took place, Greece started excavating and later started to carefully rebuild structures of the

Acropolis and restore the history lost and demolished over the centuries. And through continual

restoration, the Acropolis still holds a strong cultural significance as it did before through the

dedication and excavation of local researchers. For the Getty Museum, J. Paul Getty wanted to

share his art with the public, he first started this with his Ranch House in Malibu, CA, converting

part of his house into a museum. His collection grew and so he needed something bigger. When

Mr. Getty died, in his will he wished the Trust to contribute to ​“the diffusion of artistic and

general knowledge”, (Who We Are) which the Trust aimed to do by starting new programs and

contributing to the art world more - this led to their growing collection and eventually the

construction of the Getty Center Museum to house many of the collection’s pieces. Much of

Getty’s goal for the Trust was to give back to the public, to show off and give to his community.

When Mr. Getty died, he left an exceedingly large and growing art collection behind to the Trust

in hopes that it would contribute to the growth of the art world and bring greater attention to the

culture of art. Now the Getty Center Museum has a yearly attendance of around 1.5 million

visitors (Getty Center, Architecture)​ ​and is truly open to the public with its free admission.

The Parthenon temple on the Acropolis faces east, and the Getty Center Museum is

positioned primarily facing southwest, both meant to overlook the cities that they were built

above. From the Getty Center visitors can see the pacific ocean to the west, the Research

Institute building on the westside of the site especially lends an optimal view of the ocean. The

Parthenon is by far the largest building to be constructed on the Acropolis site, the temple being

more than 100 feet in width and 200 feet in length. However, opposed to the dominating

structure of the Parthenon on the Acropolis, many of the buildings at the Getty are of like size,

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lending to the balanced feel of the buildings acting as a single unit. The Getty Center Museum

has five main museum buildings on the site, plus a restaurant and Entrance Hall which share the

majority of the space as well. Each Getty Center building was thoughtfully designed, but one

oddity about the scale of the buildings is that a majority of the buildings are built underground.

Due to city restrictions, Richard Meier was not allowed to construct his buildings as high as he

wanted them from ground level so he had to dig first. Contributing to the thoughtful organization

of the museum site, Artist Robert Irwin, who was in charge of landscape design at the Getty,

created a Central Garden for the Getty, it in and of itself is an important, contributing attraction

to the museum. If a visitor were to visit the citadel at its peak, they would first enter the citadel

through the Propylaea, an elaborately decorated entryway. And to the right of the entryway, the

Temple of Athena Nike, an Ionic-style temple built as a shrine for, what the Athenians believed

to be the patron goddess of Athens, Athena. The visitor would then see the Parthenon temple

which sits right over the city, and to the far left the Erechtheion, also an Ionic-style temple meant

to honor various gods including Athena.

Fig. 7, ​Diagram of Acropolis, ​taken from Khan Academy,

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Fig. 8, ​Diagram of Getty Center, ​taken from oneperfectdayin.org

The structure of the Acropolis comes in many forms from all the various buildings built

at different times. Some buildings were built stylistically the same, like the Ionic-styled

Erechtheion and Temple of Athena, while most of the buildings were built of marble, like the

Parthenon and Erechtheion. The Getty Center Museum is characteristically circular and

curvilinear, most of the buildings being square, and made with concrete, steel, glass, and

travertine. The travertine, which is a signature structural element of the Getty was mined and

brought to Los Angeles from Italy, around 1.2 million square feet of travertine was used, and

was mostly used at the Getty as facing for the buildings. (Getty Center, Architectural

Description)

The structure of the Getty and the Acropolis are very similar in that both were designed to be

figures of permanence. The Acropolis was built and displayed the height and greatness of Greece

and the culture of Athens, and the Getty Center was a structural feat of permanence and tradition.

Richard Meier even says that he used stone in his design as a way to illustrate permanence, a

sense of “grounding the buildings”. (Making Architecture 35)

The construction process for all the major structures for the Acropolis was said to have

been in the rule of Pericles, and spanned around 50 years. Today, with the restoration and careful

excavations of local Greek researchers and archaeologists, the Acropolis is being restored in

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hopes of one day being fully reconstructed to its former glory for all to enjoy and admire. For the

Getty Center, the construction process for Richard Meier was attributed to lending itself to

inspiration from the natural, surrounding landscape of Los Angeles. With every part, the

travertine from Italy, the 110 acre site to construct on, and the below ground building levels the

construction of the site was monumental. Meier conscious of keeping a budget, the whole

construction of the Getty Center Museum cost $1.3 billion. Construction began for the Getty

Center Museum in 1987 and continued for 10 years. In 1996 staff moved in, and in 1997 to much

fanfare, on Dec 16 the Getty Center was officially opened to the public.

In conclusion, these two sites, the Getty Center Museum and Acropolis of Athens, highly

contributed, and still to this day, to their world and culture around them. Through their sense of

permanence and prominence where they stand and their cultural influence and effect, these two

sites, one contemporary, the other historical, stand as monumental structures to serve their city

and community and to be admired by all. And all though the Acropolis is not today as it once

was when it was constructed on by the Athenians more than 2000 years ago, because of the

dedication of researchers and archaeologists, one day the Acropolis may be able to be looked

upon as it once was in all its greatness and esteem.

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Works Cited

Meier, Richard, Huxtable, Ada Louise, Rountree, Stephen D., Williams, Harold M. ​Making

Architecture: The Getty Center, ​1997​.

History.com editors. Acropolis, HISTORY, 31 January, 2018.

https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-greece/acropolis.

Getty Center editors. ​Architecture​, Getty Center Library,

http://library.pub.getty.edu/visit/center/architecture.html. ​ Accessed 10 Oct. 2020.

Ferrari, Gloria. ​The Ancient Temple on the Acropolis at Athens​. ​American Journal of

Archaeology​, vol. 106, no. 1, 2002, pp. 11–35. ​JSTOR​,

https://www.jstor.org/stable/507187?seq=1​. Accessed 3 Nov. 2020.

Stevens, Gorham P. ​Architectural Studies Concerning the Acropolis of Athens​. Hesperia: The

Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, vol. 15, no. 2, 1946, pp. 73–106.

JSTOR, ​https://www.jstor.org/stable/146883?seq=1​. Accessed 3 Nov. 2020.

Roth, Leland M., Roth, Amanda C Clarke. ​Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History,

and Meaning.​ 3rd Edition, 1993, pp. 258-287.

Getty Center editors, ​The Getty Center - Architectural Description​. Current Press Releases,

Getty Center Library, ​https://www.getty.edu/news/press/arch/archdesc.html. ​Accessed 3 Nov.

2020.

Getty Center editors, ​History of Getty -​ ​Who We Are. ​getty.edu

http://www.getty.edu/about/whoweare/history.html#:~:text=Getty%20staff%20and%20programs

%20began,fanfare%20on%20December%2016%2C%201997.​ ​Accessed 3 Nov. 2020.