I sometimes wonder how designers and architects might revisit their work over time.
I'm just back from the Getty Research Institute, which has
stunning views, elegant plazas and a stark modernist facade. And it also suggests that architect Richard Meier was unaware of issues of access, signage, and wayfinding.
What's up this staircase? You have to go ahead and climb up to find out. There aren't any signs here. . . Want to find the easiest access route to exhibitions, buildings, and accommodations? Don't even bother looking for the International Symbol of Access, since it's scarcely used anywhere on the premises.
While good signage could certainly help user experience at the Getty, it's clear that Meier himself didn't give the disabled much thought at all.
The museum and institute cover large spaces, the layout relies on staircases to link its sprawling campus, restrooms are spread out, and the entire complex is paved in harsh and unforgiving marble. It is an uncompromising place.The entire complex seems to have been designed for an adult male, aged 25-45, who is in good physical shape. The Getty is one of Meier's crowning achievements, and it is unrelenting in its vision. Moreover, it remains largely as he envisaged it some 25 years ago.
But Meier, now an octogenarian, has aged. He uses a cane. Perhaps he could not foresee this while young. But I wonder if he's walked through the campus more recently. . . using his cane.
Meier aside, the complex was built before the ADA went into effect in 1990; surely it's time for the Getty to update itself, and join the ranks of other (accessible) art museums worldwide.
