Getty Villa Honored by Alliance for Quality Construction

The Alliance for Quality Construction recently presented its 2006 Q Award to the Getty Villa in the Malibu hills. Accepting for this year's winning project was Corbin Smith, head of the Villa Project Team.
The Q Award event took place last month at the renovated Getty Villa.

"The Getty is honored to receive this award in recognition of the hard work and fine craftsmanship performed in the renovation of the Villa," said Deborah Marrow, interim president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust.

"The Villa provides the perfect setting for the collections and programs, and we are grateful to everyone who helped make these beautiful buildings a reality."

The annual Q Award is presented by the Alliance for Quality Construction, a Southern California construction trade organization. The AQC consists of building trade unions and contractor associations. Each year, the AQC selects an outstanding construction project typifying the integrity and excellence in union craftsmanship. Recipients of previous Q Awards have been The Home Depot Center (2005), The Walt Disney Concert Hall (2004), and Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral (2003).

Following a major renovation, this cultural landmark returned with a new mission as an educational center and museum dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria. The Getty Villa serves a varied audience through its permanent collection, changing exhibitions, conservation, scholarship, research, and public programs.

The Getty Villa vividly evokes the classical world in both its landscape and architecture. Modeled after the Villa dei Papiri, a first-century Roman country house, the original villa building (now known as the J. Paul Getty Museum) was renovated and re-imagined as an artifact discovered in an archaeological excavation. The Villa's four gardens and the adjacent grounds are planted with species known to the ancient Mediterranean.

The newly renovated J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa features over 1,200 antiquities on view in 23 galleries devoted to the permanent collection that are now organized by theme. An additional six galleries will present an annual schedule of changing and loan exhibitions.

Following the Getty Center's multifaceted example, the Getty Villa offers facilities for the Getty Trust's four programs: the Getty Conservation Institute, the Getty Foundation, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and the Getty Research Institute.

The 64-acre Getty Villa site was purchased by J. Paul Getty in 1945. Nine years later, he opened the J. Paul Getty Museum to the public in his Ranch House, where he showcased his collection of art, of which Greek and Roman antiquities were an important element. The original villa was conceived in 1968, based on the Villa dei Papiri, a first-century Roman country house. The villa became the new location of the J. Paul Getty Museum in 1974; it closed for renovation six months prior to the opening of the Getty Center in 1997.

With the Getty Villa in Malibu and the Getty Center in Los Angeles, the Getty serves audiences from two locations, providing a wider range of exhibitions and programming in the visual arts. For more information on both sites, please visit www.getty.edu.

It took 300 mostly union construction workers on-site daily and about 1,000 workers during the course of the renovation project. The Getty Villa now includes a new cafe, museum store, a 250-seat auditorium, an open-air entry pavilion, and the dramatic 450-seat Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman Theater, an outdoor classical theater based on ancient prototypes.

"The Getty Villa is one of Southern California's most beautiful sites," said Pam Ackrich, AQC's chair. "We are proud to award the Getty Villa the 2006 Q Award."

Additional information on the Q Award is available on the AQC website: allianceqci.org.