Yesterday, we have lost one of the contemporary best-known architects, I.M. Pei, at his 102. The Louvre Pyramid in Paris, National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Bank of China in Hong Kong — masterpieces of Pei are all over the world.
Born in a Chinese clan in 1917, Pei used to lived in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Moving to the US upon his adulthood, Pei had studied Architecture in Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. His talent has won him AIA Gold Medal in 1979 and Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1983.
In 1984, Pei was spotted by prominent American real estate developer William Zeckendorf and worked for him for 7 years. During that period with Zeckendorf, Pei finished the first project of his life, Gulf Oil Building, as the landmark of Atlanta.
In 1955, Pei set his own business I.M.Pei & Associates with fellow partners, later named Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.
At Pei’s early period, glass was not the major material he used. Kips Bay Plaza finished in 1963, Society Hill Towers in 1964 and Silver Towers in 1967 — most works were made of concrete.
The first acknowledged project of Pei was National Center for Atmospheric Research in State of Colorado built in 1967. After that, Pei continued to design for important constructions of Dallas City Hall and National Gallery of Art.
The triangle design of National Gallery of Art is praised as one of the most successful buildings in the American 1970s.
1968 is the year when the glass age began. Together with partner Henry N. Cobb, Pei joined the project of John Hancock Tower in Boston. It was the first building to have used an excessive amount of glasses. But since the technique was not advanced yet at that point, there were falling of glasses at the early stage.
In 1979, Pei started the project of Fragrant Hill Hotel in Western Hills, Beijing. He was the first foreign architect to have his works built in China after the Economic Reform.
After careful research and estimation, Pei combined the traditions of Chinese gardens and the modern style and brought a design of Chinese garden beneath the crystal-clear glass roof.
Since Pei’s father was one of the founders of Bank of China, Pei was assigned to be responsible for the design of its Hong Kong branch. The unique design was born under the consideration of Hong Kong’s typhoon season weather feature. It now becomes the center of the city’s well-known night view.
If there’s one thing I know I didn’t do wrong, it’s the Louvre.
In 1984, the 200th anniversary of French Revolution, François Mitterrand, French President at that time has appointed Pei to direct this former palace project by himself.
The pyramid proposal once received doubts if the glass design would have ruined the traditional architectural style through the centuries. But upon its opening, until today, everyone is wowed by the perfect combination of the the traditional and the modern, with the shiny surprise beneath the ground.
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