Richard Meier’s architectural philosophy is a rigorous embodiment of modernist purity, stripping design down to its essential elements—form, function, light, and geometry. His commitment to minimalism is not merely aesthetic but ideological, reflecting a belief that architecture should communicate clarity and order. By removing ornamental distractions, Meier sharpens the viewer’s attention to spatial relationships and material interplay. Central to this ideology is his iconic use of white—not as a neutral absence, but as a deliberate agent of visual reduction and spatial illumination. White, for Meier, is a medium through which light, shadow, and structure can engage in a nuanced dialogue, allowing the architecture itself to become a sculptural presence in space.

This modernist purity extends to Meier’s masterful use of geometry and natural light, which together shape the experiential core of his buildings. His reliance on grids, rectilinear forms, and modularity stems directly from the legacies of Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe, yet Meier refines these precedents into his own language of calibrated proportions and luminosity. Light is treated not just as a design element, but as an animating force—transforming surfaces and volumes throughout the day. In doing so, Meier achieves a form of architectural choreography, where geometry and illumination work in tandem to produce spaces that feel both rational and transcendent. His architecture thus becomes an abstract canvas for modernist ideals, executed with near-clinical precision yet capable of profound emotional resonance.