Richard Meier designed the glass and steel building that houses the Ara Pacis. It replaced Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo's earlier enclosure in 2006. The article names no client, gives no construction dates and gives no measurements, saying only that it is much bigger than its predecessor and divided into rooms and sections.
Morpurgo's pavilion was built for the altar's 1938 reconstruction, as part of Mussolini's effort to create an ancient Roman theme park. Several dozen surrounding buildings were leveled to make room.
Meier's building drew criticism. The New York Times critic Nicolai Ouroussoff said it showed an architect fetishizing his own style. Mayor Gianni Alemanno pledged to tear it down, then agreed with Meier to modifications, including lowering a wall facing a busy Tiber-side road. The article dates the pledge to July 2008, but its cited source is from May 2008.
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