The Getty Museum Flower Gardens
1200 Getty Center Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90049
(310) 440-7300
getty.edu

From the hill where the Getty Center sits, visitors can enjoy views of Los Angeles, Pacific Ocean and the San Gabriel Mountains Inspired by the interplay of setting and view, architect Richard Meier sought to design the new complex so that it highlights both nature and culture, creating a synchronistic, organic whole.

The Getty Research Institute occupies a circular building on the western edge of the campus. The Central Garden The 134,000 square-foot Central Garden at the Getty Center is the work of artist Robert Irwin. The design of the Central Garden re-establishes the natural ravine between the Museum and the Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities with a tree-lined walkway that leads the visitor through a garden experience. The walkway traverses a stream and gradually descends to a plaza with bougainvillea arbors. The stream ends in a stone waterfall and pool. Around the pool is a series of specialty gardens, each with a variety of plant material. All of the foliage and materials of the garden were selected to accentuate the interplay of light, color, and reflection.

The process of creating the Central Garden began in 1992, when Irvin started working with Harold M. Williams and Stephen D. Roundtree of the J. Paul Getty Trust in consultation with Richard Meier, the architect of the Getty Center. Irwin has also worked closely with Richard Naranjo, the Getty's manager of grounds and gardens, and the landscape architecture firm of Spurlock Poirier, in finalizing all facets of the garden.