Getty Center, Arts complex in Brentwood, Los Angeles, United States.
The Getty Center is an architectural and museum complex in Brentwood, Los Angeles, spread over two ridgelines. The site consists of several white travertine pavilions connected by open plazas, fountains, and designed garden areas.
The Getty Museum began in J. Paul Getty's Pacific Palisades house in 1954 and moved to a replica Italian villa on the same land in 1974. Land for the Brentwood campus was announced in 1983, Richard Meier was chosen as architect in 1984, and construction began in August 1989. The center opened on December 16, 1997.
The terraces and outdoor areas invite visitors to pause between galleries and look out over the city below. Families often picnic here while others explore the outdoor sculptures or the water features.
An automated three-car, cable-pulled hovertrain, the Getty Center Tram, links the parking garage at the foot of the hill to the arrival plaza at the top. The museum's seven-level underground garage holds over 1,200 spaces, and its roof carries an outdoor sculpture garden. From the arrival plaza, a large set of steps leads up to the rotunda's main doors.
The 1.2 million square feet of travertine cladding came from the same quarries near Rome that supplied ancient builders; each block was cut with its natural layers and inclusions left visible. The stone is a detail visitors can read up close on the pavilion walls.
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