A Grand New Getty

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Happily, although the Getty complex will contain as much floor space as a skyscraper, Meier has scattered its nearly 1 million sq. ft. among six sharply distinct buildings, none taller than five stories. The largest is the museum, which is, in turn, broken up into five pavilions set around a 1 1/2-acre garden courtyard, interconnected by walkways, some open air. The arrangement means that a visitor's tour will be punctuated by blasts of California blue sky and sunlight: Rembrandt and Ruisdael landscapes interspersed with real- life Pacific vistas.

The one part of the Getty that diverges somewhat from Meier's earlier work is the Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, the intellectual core of the enterprise. Frank Lloyd Wright is one of the gods from whom Meier claims stylistic influence, and the basic form of this building -- a five- story cylinder whose salient interior feature is a broad ramp that follows the building's curve as it descends -- suggests Wright's Guggenheim Museum with the sides straightened and one large slice of the layer cake removed.

Overall, the stucco and cleft-cut stone will give the Getty a nice grittiness lacking in Meier's previous work. Instead of the usual aloof Meieresque facades, the buildings are full of verve; they are even a bit manic. Instead of sleek uninterrupted planes of metal and glass, there are balconies, loggias and shady brise-soleils. If the new Getty becomes a lively, civilized place, it will be because, for all the white-on-white elegance, it is not pristine and hermetic, not another gorgeous monolith. The rugged terrain and Meier's good planning sense have dictated a dense urban messiness, with odd angles and almost ungainly juxtapositions, rather than some prissy classical grid over which buildings as jewels are dispersed just so.

Construction begins on the main complex next spring, and Meier, whose architecture depends on precision detailing, will have to be especially vigilant about the quality of the Southern California craft: Taco Bell stuccowork won't do. But considering the budget and Meier's habitual perfectionism, it looks as if the Getty Center, when finished in 1996, will have justified all the fuss.