Located in Los Angeles, California, the Getty Center is a museum that specializes in pre-20th-century European paintings, drawings, illuminated manuscripts, sculpture, and decorative arts; and 19th- and 20th-century American and European photographs. It is named after famed oilman J. Paul Getty who’s trust funds it.
The center is best known for its architecture, gardens, and views overlooking Los Angeles. The center sits atop a hill connected to a visitors’ parking garage at the bottom of the hill by a three-car, cable-pulled tram. The center draws over a million visitors annually.
Now about that parking garage…
OK – the art, architecture, gardens and views are all amazing and breathtaking, but it is the little things that catch my eye. Like the parking garage barrier bars. You know, those bars that go up and down when you get your parking ticket from the that machine or when you pay those friendly people at the booth? Well, at the Getty Center parking garage, the bars changes color! They are red when they are down, change to yellow as they go up and change again to green when they are all the way up. Isn’t that cool?
When designing experiences every detail counts. And it is the attention to detail that creates memories and indelible emotional connections. I will never forget our trip to the Getty… the art, architecture, gardens, amazing views… and those parking garage bars.