The Import of I.M. Pei

THE IMPORT OF I.M. PEI

The Life, Work, + Philosophy of an Architect

Edited by Timothy Dansby

t h e i m p or t of i.m. pe i

E d it e d by T i mot hy D a n s by

TABLE OF CONTENTS I

the life of pei

II

1 7 13

the work of pei

III

early life university + training formative years

ncar mesa lab jfk library dallas city hall national gallery east bldg ocbc center miami tower bank of china tower grand louvre miho museum suzhou museum islamic art museum

21 25 29 33 39 43 47 53 61 67 71

the legacy of pei

an award-winning career

the heights of fame

the scions of pei references

77 80 82 85

life is architecture and architecture is the very mir ror of life.

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t h e l i f e of pe i

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With a mobile banker for a father and a Chinese herbalist as a grandfather, Pei’s itinerant upbringing was a blend of the modern and the traditional.

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01 EARLY LIFE Life began for Ieoh Ming Pei in a wealthy household situated on the banks of the Pearl River in the city of Guangzhou, in Canton.

On April 26th, 1916, in southern China’s bustling port of Guangzhou, Tsuyee and Lien Kwun Pei proudly welcomed their second child and first son into the world. They named the baby Ieoh Ming, meaning “to inscribe brightly”. It was thought to be an auspicious birth.

People born under the sign of the Snake are thought to be charming, intelligent, and creative. They are also said to be determined and independent-minded. Pei said his father was “not cultivated in the ways of the arts”, but the pragmatic sort, and wished his oldest son to be a doctor or a banker, following in his footsteps.

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Pei was less close to his father than he was to his mother, a very devout Buddhist who was locally recognized for her skills as a f lautist.

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It was the Warlord Era, full of

A few years later, Tsuyee was

strife and poverty. Pei’s paternal

promoted by the Bank of China

grandfather, Litai, negotiated

and given a manager’s position in

with militia, begging them not to

Shanghai. He moved with his wife

destroy his beloved city of Suzhou,

and five children to the divierse

while Pei’s father, a banker in

westernized city.

pre-Communist China, requested

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Shanghai’s many international

a branch relocation and moved

elements gave it the name “Paris of

his family to the safety of British-

the East”. The global architectural

occupied Hong Kong. Living in the

flavors in its heart actually had a

colony gave young Ieoh Ming his

profound influence on Pei, from

first window to the world outside

the modernizing Bund waterfront

of China, especially of the West. As

area to the soaring 23-story Park

was customary for boys of well-to-

Hotel, newly built in 1934. Pei

do families, he attended a formal

attended St. John’s, a private school

school run by English Protestant

featuring Western-style education.

missionaries, taught in both

Byt he time he was 18, Pei could

English and Chinese.

read and speak English fluently.

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pe i of t h e c i t y

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As a youth, Pei watched the 1930s cityscape in Shanghai, which planted the seeds for his love of architecture. “In Suzhou I was very much conscious of the past, but in Shanghai I saw the future ahead.�

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Young Ieoh Ming was impressed by the many gardens of Suzhou where he spent summers studying Confucian ethics with his grandfather. His paternal family owned the Shizilinyuan, or the Lion’s Grove Garden—named for lion-like rock scuptures built in the 14th century by a Buddhist monk—and was especially inf luential on him. Its unusual rock formations, stone bridges, and waterfalls remained etched in Pei’s emory for decades. He spoke later of his fondness for the garden’s blending of natural and human-built structures.

l ion grov e

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Suzhou gardens are meant to imitate the natural world .

Labyrithine stone paths and tunnels, rock sculptures, green ponds, lush f lora, arched bridges, white stucco walls, and gray-tiled roofs comprise the gardens of Pei’s ancestral home.

M I T | M a s s a c hu s e t t s Av e , C a m b r i d g e , M A | 4 2 . 359 8 ยบ N , 71. 0 9 21ยบW | 1935 m ug gi ng at m i t

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Pei poses for a photograph with classmates in the middle of lessons about leverage and weight distribution of solid forms.

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02 UNIVERSITY + TRAINING Drawn to the energetic and free-wheeling youth culture depicted in 1930’s Hollywood movies, Pei was determined to attend school not in Oxford as encouraged by his father, but in the U.S. In 1935 Pei boarded the SS President Coolidge and sailed to San Francisco, then traveled by train to Philadelphia. What he found, however, differeed vastly from his expectations.

Professors at the University of Pennsylvania based their teaching on the Beaux-Arts style, rooted in the classical traditions of Greece and Rome. Furthermore, its heavy emphasis on fine draftsmanship was not well-suited to his interest in structural engineering. That same year he enrolled instead in engineering at Massachussets Institute of Technology (mit) in Boston, Massachusetts.

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At MIT Pei learned the science and technique of building, which was just as essential to his architecture education.

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Pei decided to abandon architecture upon transferring to mit. Once he arrived, however, William Emerson, the Dean of Architecture school, commented on his eye for design and convinced Pei to return to his original major. mit’s architecture faculty was also focused on the Beaux-Arts school, and Pei found himself uninspired by the work for some time.

Although he disliked the emphasis, Pei excelled in his studies. “I certainly didn’t regret the time at mit”, he said later. “There I learned the science and technique of building, which is just as essential to architecture.” Pei received his Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1940 before attending graduate studies at Harvard Graduate Design School where, in 1942, he studied with Walter Gropius and Michel Breuer and recieved his master’s degree before taking on professorial duties himself.

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THAT’S NONSENSE. I DON’T KNOW OF ANY CHINESE THAT CAN’T DRAW! —dean william emerson

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MAJOR INFLUENCES Luminaries of the era were pivotal to I.M. Pei’s style

l ecor busi e r v

wa lt e r gropi us v

A World War II refugee, Gropius came to Harvard in the 1940s and gave structure to the university’s burgeoning modernist movement.

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Pei was inspired by the innovative designs of the new international style, characterized by simplified form and the use of glass and steel materials. From Lecorbusier Pei learned to relate his work to a larger movement.

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a lva r a a lto v

m a rc e l br eu e r v

Pei and Breuer developed a very close friendship, collaborating on many projects; a relationship which lasted until he died.

Pei used to go to dinner with Alvar Aalto, who he admitted “ drank schnapps like a fish.� He learned human perspective from Aalto, but not how to hold liquor, he confessed.

W E B B & K N A P P | 6 0 0 Fi f t h Av e , N YC , N Y | 4 0 .453 º N , 73 .5 8 45 ºW | 19 4 8 ­— 5 6 a c e rta i n br e e d of bos s

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One of Zeckendorf ’s biggest achievements was assembling some 75 parcels of land on the East Side of New York—formerly home to smelly slaughterhouses— into a bundle that eventually became the foundation for the United Nations. He seemed to have a knack for finding New York’s next thriving market.

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03 FORMATIVE YEARS Pei’s career as a Harvard professor ended in 1948 when he was hired to direct the architectural division of Webb + Knapp, a famed New York City contracting firm owned by the loquacious and flamboyantly wealthy businessman William Zeckendorf.

Pei finally his architecture come to life in when he designed a two-story corporate building for Gulf Oil in Atlanta, Georgia. His use of marble for the exterior curtain wall brought praise from the journal Architectural Forum. This brought more clients to the firm. Soon Pei was so inundated with projects that he asked Zeckendorf for assistants, which he chose from his associates at the GSD, including Henry N. Cobb and Ulrich Franzen. They set to work on a variety of urban proposals. These projects helped Pei conceptualize architecture as part of the larger urban geography. These lessons became essential for later projects.

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Pei found Zeckendorf ’s personality the opposite of his own; his new boss was known for his loud speech and gruf f demeanor. Nevertheless, Pei found the experience personally enriching. Zeckendorf was well connected politically, and Pei enjoyed learning of the social world of New York’s city planners.

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Zeckendorf ’s real estate firm was one of the most

These large-scale a projects involved the kind of

aggressive builders in the post-war period. Unlike

rigorous planning and appreciation of urban focus for

most young architects who find their early work in

which Pei’s organization would be acclaimed.

residences and other small scale projects, Pei was

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Not only did the years which Webb and Knapp

thrust immediately into the world of big business.

offer Pei an extraordinary immersion into the world

Among the projects undertaken by Zeckendorf, and

of corporate architecture, it also introduced him to

supervised by his Director of Architecture, were the

the men who would soon become his partners in

Mile High Center in Denver, Place Ville Marie in

one of the most successful U. S. architectureal prac-

Montreal, and Kips Bay Plaza in New York City.

tices. Working with Henry Cobb, Eason Leonard,

The low budgets for early radical housing and

and later James Ingo Freed was a golden ratio. With

urbanism projects such as Kips Bay in New York City

Cobb and Leonard as the original partners, I.M. Pei

forced Pei to experiment with materials. This was

formally established his own firm, Ieoh Ming Pei

architecture of the minimum. Brick was too expensive,

and Partners, in 1960. The end of the Zeckendorf

so Pei argued for in-situ concrete—the facade was the

era came amicably, something of a graduation,

structure. Kips Bay agave him his first experience of

I.M. Pei having already begun to accept projects

master-planning, a subject still dear to his heart.

outside the Webb & Knapp aegis in the 1950s.

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»

PEI C O B B+ FREED

Architects llc

you h av e t o l e a r n t o e l i m i n at e , a n d come to the he art of the problem.

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t h e w or k of pe i

N C A R | 185 0 Ta b l e M e s a D r i v e , B o u l d e r, C O | 39.9 7 7 º N , 10 5. 2 749 ºW | $ 4 .5M | 19 61 ­– 67 m e s a l a bor atory

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The laboratory building sits atop a small highland, above the city of Boulder, Colorado, and in the shadow of red sandstone rock formations called “Flat irons”, which tower to the west.

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t h e wor k of pei

01 NCAR MESA LAB NCARâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Boulder facility was Peiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first real work outside of largescale urban projects. Though he lacked a reputation in rural projects, he was known for his innovative use of concrete and he applied his experience generously to suit the needs of the scientific complex. Pei needed NCAR and NCAR needed him.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research was established on the threshold of a new age of scientific exploration. More than simply provide optimum facilities for theoretical and practical scientists, the building was undertaken to create a national symbol of atmosphereic research, ocnfirming its legitimacy as an exact science. From 1962 to 1964 Pei dedicated a great deal of his time designing the lab. Through revision he moved from a single tower to a series of three towers set up in a village-like model.

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Pei laid out the main building in a maze-like fashion to encourage interaction amongst the resident scientists.

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Pei moved from a single-stage construction to an incremental two phase approach to better suit ncarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s National Science Foundation-imposed budget constraints. The vastness of the Rocky Mountains gave him a significant design challenge.

Inspired by Indian cliff dwellings in nearby Mesa Verde, it comes to terms with nature 22

through elemental forms, the absence of identifiable human scale, and the use of indigeonous materials. The innovative architectural concrete walls were colored by local aggregates and bush-hammered to better merge with the mountain setting. Set into the corner of the site, the tiered building is glimpsed from a mile-long curved approach

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carefully threaded up the mesa to preserve the natural terrain. It has been noted for its Anasaziinspired architecture and the use of the special concrete to blend its form with the surrounding area. The laboratory was named the 1967 Industrial Research Magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Laboratory of the Year.

Despite later problems with leaky roofs and personnel flow, the

building was considered a success in the scientific and architectural communities and remained the primary ncar laboratory for years. The main building was expanded underground in 1977 to make room for the expanded supercomputers and in 1980 an above-ground annex provided even more space for expansion on Peiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s widely acclaimed work.

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J F K L I B R A R Y M U S E U M | C o lu m b i a Po i nt , B o s t o n , M,A | 4 2 .. 3159 º N , 71. 03 41ºW | $ 2 0 . 8 M ­ | 19 6 4 –7 9 a coa s ta l r e pose

The library grounds cover only ten acres, perching on Columbia Point, a peninsula jutting from the maintland into Dorchester Bay, Massachusets.

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t h e wor k of pei

02 JFK LIBRARY + MUSEUM One month before President Kennedy was assassinated, he began plans for a grand presidential library and museum to be built in his name. After his death, a committee headed by Jacqueline Kennedy selected I.M. Pei to realize his this vision.

The list of prospects included Louis Khan, Mies van der Rohe, Alvar Aalto, Franco Albini, Llucio Costa, Pei, and five other relatively unknown architects from around the world. Despite the credentials and name recognition of the other architects Jacqueline Kennedy saw potential and creativity in her choice. I.M. Pei. He was young, flexible, and enthusiastic; she saw in him the same energy and relatability as her husband. Ultimately, it is said that Kennedy made her choice based on her personal connection with Pei, calling it â&#x20AC;&#x153;really an emotional decisionâ&#x20AC;? for her.

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The design is a simple geometric structure witha large glass pavilion.

The concrete tower stands 125 ft and houses of fices and archives.

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The original site that President Kennedy had

Pei’s signature geometric shapes of concrete

selected at Cambridge faced opposition from

steel and glass created an appropriate stately

n.i.m.b.y. protesters, and quickly became super

monumentality. Critics generally liked the

unrealistic after it was bogged down by bureacratic

finished building, but the architect himself was

delays. Years passed, and costs ballooned. Finally,

unsatisfied. Years of conflict and compromise

in 1975 a new site was selected at Columbia Point

had changed the nature of the design, and Pei

in Boston. The site was originally a garbage dump.

felt the final result lacked its original passion.

Pei asserted that one could toss a lit match to

“I wanted to give something very special to

the earth and watch the ground ignite as the soil

the memory of President Kennedy” he said in

emitted methane gas. However, the site boasted 9.5

2000. “It could have been a great project.”

acres and views of Boston Harbor and skyline. Pei can could finally move forward.

The main body of the structure consists of

the Kennedy project for Pei was his elevation in the public’s consciousness as an architect of

a singular and brilliant triangular tower that

note. Pei considered the John F. Kennedy Library

protrudes from an expanding base of geometric

“the most important commission of my life.”

forms. A cube of steel and glass rose along with

It was a major milestone for him., one of the

the concrete tower; hollowed and hallowed it

first in a series during his long, varied career.

came to represent reflection on the great void.

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Perhaps the most important consequence of

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DA L L A S C I T Y H A L L | 15 0 0 M a r i l l a , D a l l a s , T X | 4 2 . 3159 º N , 71. 03 41ºW | $ 70 .4 M­ | 19 6 6 –19 7 7 voic e of t h e peopl e

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“When you do a city hall, it has to convey an image of the local people, and this had to represent the people of Dallas... The people I met­— rich and poor, powerful and not so powerful — were all very proud of their city. They felt that Dallas was the greatest city there was, and I could not disappoint them.”

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03 DALLAS CITY HALL The assassination of JFK seemed to turn the world against Dallas, as it became known as a “City of Hate”. Mayor Erik Jonsson made it a priority to reinvent the city’s image. It was the start of a civic movement to modernize Dallas, beginning with a modern City Hall.

The design of the project would involve more than just the building. It extended to the relationship of the new Municipal Center to neighboring structures, to nearby undeveloped parcels of land and to the whole of downtown. Under Pei’s hand, Dallas City Hall was made an inseparable combination of building and park. Giving much-needed open space to the center city and catalyzing future development, the bold design created a balanced dialogue with Dallas’ skyscrapers, created an aesthetic and place decisive to the city’s identity and life.

f l oor pl a n

The design is a simple geometric structure witha large glass pavilion.

The concrete tower stands 125 ft and houses of fices and archives.

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t h e wor k of pei

I.M. Pei’s modernist inverted

Pei persuaded the city of Dallas to

pyramid design is actually a result

acquire an additional six acres in

of space requirements from the

front of the building as a plaza and

city council. The public areas and

buffer zone for his grand public

citizen services required so much

strcture. A car parking garage was

less space than offices that in the

built beneath the plaza, and the

government and overhanging floors

extra income helped supplement the

were allowed to be larger than the

funding of the building.

public spaces below. The building

The buff-colored concrete

slopes at a 34 degree angle, with

used was specifically chosen for

each of the 7 above-grade floors

the main building material; its

being 9 1/2 feet wider than the

color resembled local earth tones.

one below. This inclined facade

Since concrete was the primary

interacts with the buildings it faces

building and finsh material,

downtown, energizing the space

close attention was paid to every

while providing protection from the

aspect of its mix and placement to

weather and burning Texas sun.

synergize with its environment.

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The building’s lower f loors house busy public facilities with easy access from the surrounding streets. Upper floors, by contrast, offer the building’s employees additional space needed for larger, less public municipal offices. Flexible interiors were designed to accomodate the changing needs of the growing city.

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N G A E A S T B L D G | 6 t h & C o n s t it u t i o n Av e , Wa s h i n g t o n D C | 3 8 . 8 91° N 7 7. 0 2 0 ° W | $ 70 .4 M­ | 19 6 8 –78

voice of the people ^ “When you do a city hall, it has to convey an image of the local people, and this had to represent the people of Dallas... The people I met­— rich and poor, powerful and not so powerful — were all very proud of their city. They felt that Dallas was the greatest city there was, and I could not disappoint them.”

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t h e wor k of pei

04 NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, EAST BUILDING Rarely in the 20th century has so much attention been paid to a work of architecture, and rarely has it come from such a wide range. When this hard-edged assemblage of triangular forms opened, critics were unanimous in their praise of its geometry.

The West Building of the National Gallery of Art has an extensive collection of paintings and sculptures by European masters from the medieval period through the late 19th century, as well as pre-20th century works by American artists. Highlights of the collection include many paintings by Jan Vermeer, Rembrandt van Rijn, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, and Leonardo da Vinci. In contrast, the design of the East Building by Pei is rigorously geometrical, dividing the trapezoidal shape of the site into two triangles: one isosceles and the other a smaller right triangle. The space defined by one triangle came to house public function while the other became a study center. The triangles became the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s organized motif, echoed and repeated in every dimension.

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The complexity of the design went through many iterations, but remained rooted in the original parallelagram shape envisioned by Pei. Its knife edge alarmed of ficials, but is loved by visitors.

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The Galleryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s East Building was constructed in the 1970s on the scrap of remaining land left over from the original congressional joint resolution from 1935. It was funded by the original donorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s children Paul Mellon and Ailsa Mellon Bruce. Designed to to complement the older West Building, reflect the modern sensibility of its collection, and to fit within the constraints of available land, the contemporary structure was completed in 1978 and was opened in June of that year by President Jimmy Carter. The new building was built to house the Museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s collection of modern paintings, drawings, sculptures, and prints, as well as study and research centers and offices. The design received a National Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects in 1981.

The West Building was dressed in a rare pink Tenessee marble in 1935. The donor, Paul Mellon, specified the same pink marble for the East but the original quarry was long closed by the 1970s.

Ever a stickler for detail, Pei requested the quarry reopened and an original stoneworker was brought out of retirement to help select the stone. Sadly, Pei had to settle for a blend of five gradations (instead of fifteen) and 3-inch slabs instead of the now cost-prohibitive 9-inch slabs used in the first building, but he saw it as challenge.

Another major problem presented itself in the form of thermal stresses because, unlike the Beaux-Arts building, there were no columns or moldings to conceal expansion joints, just great unbroken expanses of wall, as much as 180 feet in length. A system of double-wall construction was developed whereby marble panels were individually supported by stainless-steeel plates anchored onto a brick wall behind so that the stone, floating freely, could expand the constract independently. Non-weight-bearing neoprene gaskets, colored to match the stone, filled the spaces in between.

pat t e r ns w i t h i n pat t e r ns

To relieve the depth of orderly precision throughout the museum, Pei made such unexpected gestures as lightheartedly scooping out the wall next to the ecscalator.

While the addition appears smaller than the original museum, it is actually 150,000 square feet larger; one-third of its mass is tunneled under Fourth street to functionally unite the entire National Gallery. The two-story link houses temporary exhibition space, a ninety-seat lecture hall, 422-seat auditorium, 700-seat cafe, museum shop, loading docks, storage, laboratories, work areas, and all the other in-house services that could be squeeze in to update the museum, overcoming tremendous physical challenges of the time.

Pei later became well-known for this solution.

Triangles meet triangles, flying up, swooping down, and meeting at acute angles throughout the East Building. The effect produced is apparently random, visual collisions created by the repetition of the geometric motif, but it is all underlain by a rigorous abstract order. Because of this, the modernity of the angular structure contrasts and complements, rather than clashes or competes with its more traditional twin. Another unifier is an axial link where the entryway is aligned along the West Buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s east-west axis, opening up a plaza space between the buildings.

The buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most dramatic feature is its high atrium designed as an open interior court, it is enclosed by a sculptural space frame spanning 16,000 square feet (1,500 m 2). The atrium is centered on the same axis that forms the circulation spine for the West Building and constructed in the same Tennessee marble. The East Building focuses on modern and contemporary art. The East Building also contains the main offices of the National Gallery of Art and a large research facility, the core of the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (casva).

O C B C B U I L D I N G | 65 C hu l i a S t r e e t , D o w nt o w n C o r e , S i n g a p o r e | 1. 2 85° N 103 . 8 49 ° E | $ 6 0 .5M ­ | 19 70 –76

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05 OVERSEAS CHINESE BANKING CORPORATION CENTRE (OCBC) OCBC Centre is a 649 ft, fifty-two-story skyscraper in Singapore.

Serving as the headquarters of OCBC Bank, it was completed in 1976 and was not only tallest tower in the country, but in all of South East Asia at that time.

I.M. Pei was among the first outside architects to be invited to Singapore after the country’s independence in 1965. ocbc’s president was a Pei family friend who made clear he wanted a national monument to replace ocbc’s existing six-story headquarters. ocbc tower was therefore designed to be a symbol of strength and permanence, and its structure made of two semi-circular reinforced concrete cores as well as three lateral girders which helped make construction faster. It was also motivated by pragmatic concerns for the quality execution of a 929,000 ft 2 tower in a developing country where the tallest building was only eight stories.

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Singaporeans saw in the design Pei’s Chinese signature, which is incidentially the character which relates to an ancient symbol for money. “Just local gossip,” dismissed the architect with a laugh. “The important part, the legs, are not even there!”

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Not wishing to challenge contractors in the building of the country’s first skyscraper, Pei simplified, designing three fifteen story buildings stacked on top of one another.

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a room with a view < OCBC Centre dominates the skyline in a view over the Singapore River, 1976

The building is divided into three sections due to the steel trusses being constructed off-site and were put into position. Beginning with the two structural cores, concrete was poured into slipform molds moved up continuously in minute increments, leaving an evergrowing exrusion of pre-stressed, hardened concrete behind. At the 4th, 20th, and 35th floors the freestanding cores were spanned, like the rungs of a ladder, by tremendous steel trusses that effectively formed the ground floor of each “15-story building”, and allowed them to be constructed simultaneously, even while the floors beneath were incomplete. The trusses house all the mechanical and electrical systems for each section and transfer its loads to the cores.

Each section consists of floors that are cantilevered from each column, with load transfer girders spanning at each end taking up boxed sections of the concrete.

Pei had originally hoped to construct the tower in architectural concrete but when it was found too porous to prevent discoloration from an indigenous fungus, he realized imagery of ocbc’s “Solid as a Rock” motto by facing the cores in granite. Matching off-white glass mosaics exposed surfaces of the sunscreened office floors, which cantilever out fifteen feet to widen office floors by ninety-five feet.

The building has been locally nick-named the calculator due to its flat shape and windows which look like button pads. The ocbc center was only the first of his three projects in the country, and has since become part of Pei’s influence which made significant and enduring impact on the nation’s overall physical development through building projects which were sited strategically along the river and greens to connect the modern city with higly visible urban markers.

a t rus se d - wort h y tow e r

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“With trusses,” Pei explained to the Singaporeans, “ the loading doesn’t continue all the way down. It’s like water; you want to channel of f some before it becomes a f lood.”

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M I A M I T OW E R | 10 0 S E 2 n d S t , M i a m i , F L | 25.7 7 2 ° N 8 0 .191° W | $16 0 M­ | 19 83 ­– 8 6 a t i e r e d monol i t h of l ight

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The Miami Tower — continually bathed in glow — is transformed into a ritual beacon of holiday cheer, a 47-story spectacle of lights.

In various seasons, the color palette varies from basic white to the full spectrum of the rainbow. Local businesses can buy colors for the night; you can create your very own monolith of light.

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06 MIAMI TOWER It is, without a doubt, the most striking building on the Miami skyline. Designed directly by Pei, the shimmering Miami Tower curves on one side, rises sharply on the other and glows in the nighttime sky. Today, millions of Americans know it from the opening credits of the hit television show â&#x20AC;&#x153;Miami Vice.â&#x20AC;?

Originally known as CenTrust Tower, the building project was undertaken to accommodate the explosive growth of Miami during the early 1980s as a center of international trade and finance. CenTrust Savings Bank wanted to establish a distinctive identity on the developing skyline while adding a civic dimension to the street. The challenge was to achieve these goals on a small site hemmed in by an elevated highway at the back edge of the commercial zone without waterside frontage or a prominent street address. It was an identity which relied on architectural image, and Pei rose to this challenge with great relish.

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The scalloped seashell-shape of the f loor plan enhances the views while ensuring maximum 120 Âş visibility for the building. Its curve can be seen from several angles at the same time.

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Whether known as CenTrust Tower, Bank of America building, Miami Trade Center, or just Miami Tower, the 47-floor building ranks in the top ten tallest skyscrapers in Miami and in Florida. At a height of 625 feet (191m) it is known for its elaborate nighttime illuminations and its dramatic three glass tiers.

Designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, the tower consists of two separate structures: A 10-story parking garage owned by the city and the 37-story office tower built upon the air rights of the garage which has seen various owners since its construction.

Preliminary planning for the tower began in February 1980 while construction on the garage began by November. The garage was completed in February 1983 and the tower began construction. On August 1984, while the tower was under construction, a fivealarm fire began on the ninth floor;. Construction was subsequently delayed for several weeks. But on December 15, 1985, the tower was lit for the first time in Miami Dolphins aqua and snowflakes, a tradition of shifting illumination which continues to this day.

THE MANY FACES OF MIAMI TOWER Miami Tower has changed hands more times almost as often as the city government has since.

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cons t ruc t ion

c e n t rus t tow e r

m i a m i t r a de c e n t e r

Erection of Miami Tower and its garage took three years. Pei revisited the design at various stages, and the three-tiers began to take shape as the building rose towards the sky.

CenTrust Savings and Loan began the tradition of nighttime lighting. The founder of the bank was indicted for fraud later and his corporation crashed.

The tower went on the market.

The building was bought by Winthrop Management in 1991 and known as Miami Trade Center for several years.

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It’s easy to see why Miami Vice used images of the tower in full luminescent glory as a pulsing semiotic shorthand for the city. One building, cast as a featured player in the opening credits of an overripe television show, captured the gorgeous— and grotesque—excess of the city forever. Aptly enough, the Miami Tower came to embody a different strain of wild and woolly Miami: the rogue banking culture of the 1980s. Still, the tower remains an example of solid engineering paired with impeccable showmanship which has made it an enduring icon on the city horizon for years.

n at ionsb a n k tow e r

b a n k of a m e r ic a tow e r

m i a m i tow e r

NationsBank moved into the tower in 1996, dismantled the lavish penthouse and sold it piece by piece. Bathed in light, with a sleek style that has been copied many times, the tower becomes a become a staple of the Miami skyline.

Owners came and went, and Bank of America took up the building in the 2003 for $85 million. For seven years they rented the f loors of the of fice tower which by now has become an international landmark.

I&G Miami, Inc. purchased the of fice building from owner Blue Capital US East Coast Properties, L .P. for $105.5 million in 2010. It goes by Miami Tower, an icon of the city and a lasting jewel in the work of Pei.

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B A N K O F C H I N A T OW E R | 1 G a r d e n R o a d , H o n g K o n g | 2 2 .16 45 º N , 114 . 0 9 41º E | $5. 2 B ­ | 19 83 – 8 9 hong kong sk y l i n e

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The Bank of China Tower is located in the central business district on Hong Kong Island, next to the HSBC Building, Cheung Kong Center, and Jardine House.

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t h e wor k of pei

07 BANK OF CHINA TOWER Graceful, concise, and structurally expressive, the triangular, stepped-back plan for the Bank of China’s Hong Kong tower was not only a visual marvel, but also an impressive engineering feat.

It is a tribute to Pei’s father, a former banker for the company.

The building was the Hong Kong branch of the Bank of China, a project that had been set in motion when Britain agreed to turn the colony of Hong Kong over to the mainland Chinese control. The transfer was scheduled for 1997, and the bankers of the People’s Republic were eager that they should have a building in Hong Kong that would stand as a monument both to the unification of the former colony with the mainland and to their country’s reemergence as a full participant in international financial affairs. The decision to ask Pei to design the building might at first have seemed improbable. Even though the Communist government had invited him to design works before, and buried any lingering animosity about his lineage, this was not a tourist facility, but a building intended as a symbol of the Communist government’s financial power. Yet Pei’s father had been the first to serve Chiang Kai-shek in the losing battle against the Communists. Here, suddenly, were some of the same Communists calling on an archenemy’s son to do what he might rightly have expected to do by his father if the Nationalists had won in 1949. It was a dilemma they too were sensitive to.

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fr a med for str ength < In architecture and structural engineering, a space frame is a truss-like, lightweight, rigid structure constructed from interlocking struts in a geometric pattern. They can be used to span large areas with few interior supports. It is strong because of the inherent rigidity of the triangle.

When planning for the building began in 1982, the Chinese first sent emissaries to New York where Pei’s father, then eighty-nine, was living. They asked him if it might be appropriate for them to approach the son for such an undertaking. “That is very Chinese,” Pei told an English reporter, “very respectful, even though they were politically at odds. With one hand my father wanted to have nothing more to do with it, and with the other he thought it important for me to do it.”

In time the iconic Bank of China Tower would rise to 1,033 ft high with its two masts marking a total height 1,200 ft. It was to be the tallest building Asia from 1989 to 1992, and it was the first building outside of the United States to break the 1,000 ft mark. It would be the fourth tallest skyscraper in Hong Kong, after International Commerce Centre, Two International Finance Centre and Central Plaza.

Hung Chen, then the deputy manager of Bank of China (Hong Kong branch) negotiated with Hayden Cave for the land plot, which was not auctioned in the open market; and invited I. M. Pei to design the tower.

As Pei’s father was a former manager of Bank of China; this personal connection was one of the reasons that Pei accepted the project, despite the much restricted budget then available for the tower, which— he understood—would inevitably be compared with the another tower: the nearby 43-story hsbc building,

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an inauspicious knife > In the popular imagination the building’s profile from some angles is said to resemble that of a butcher’s meat cleaver. Over the years this has earned it the slang nickname Yi Ba Dao, in mandarin literally meaning ‘One Knife’.

Hong Kong’s leading colonial bank designed by British architect Norman Foster. Foster’s building, which stood only two blocks away from the boc site, was a complicated mass of columns, trusses, and pipes that had set the international community astir when it opened in 1985. Indeed, Pei was well aware that, even if the Bank of China’s goal was unstated, he had an implicit responsibility to outdo Foster architecturally.

From the beginning, the Bank of China project was fraught with challenge. The proposed site in Hong Kong’s Central District was less than ideal; a tangle of highways lined it on three sides. The area was also unlucky: it been headquarters for Japanese military police during World War II and notorious for prisoner torture. The tiny parcel of land was only 90,000 square feet and dictated a small building­— or made a tall tower necessary; Pei usually shied away from such projects. Existing skyscrapers, too, lacked any real architectural character. Lacking inspiration and unsure of how to approach the building, Pei took a weekend vacation to his family home in Katonah, New York.

There he found himself experimenting with sticks until he happened upon a cascading sequence of forms.

Seizing upon the idea, he decided designing a beacon of stark geometry was the answer to solve the problems of cost, environment, and architectural aesthetic.

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The unorthodox design that Pei developed for the Bank of China needed approval of his client, and to win support for the unique, stepped form among the tradition-conscious Chinese, Pei invoked an image of the trunk of a bamboo pushing upward with each joint; a metaphor for the search for strength and excellence. Building on this concept, the tower was not only to be unique in appearance, but also sound enough to pass the city’s rigorous standards for windresistance. The tower was planned around a visible truss structure, which distributed stress to the corners of the base. Using his trademark reflective glass, Pei organized the facade around a series of boxed x shapes.

At the top, he designed the roofs at sloping angles to match the rising aesthetic of the building.

The whole structure is supported by the five steel columns at the corners of the building, with the triangular bracing transferring the weight of the structure onto these five columns away from horizontal floors and its gleaming curtain walls. This structural adaptation was important to lend the tower great strength, as one of Pei’s greatest environmental challenges was constructing the skyscraper to withstand Hong Kong’s fierce typhoon winds, which are seven times stronger than those of New York. Due to its engineering, Pei’s tower was an architectural

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success which easily beat out his competition. Foster’s 800,000 ft 2 hsbc building costed $650m. By contrast, Pei’s tower contained even more floor space—1.4 million ft 2 —and its innovative system saved forty percent steel, working out to one fifth the cost.

While its distinctive look makes it Hong Kong’s most identifiable landmark today, it was a source of controversy at the time, as the bank is the only major building in the city to bypass the convention of consulting with feng shui masters prior to its construction. In simplest terms, feng shui philosophy began as a set of rules for surveying land based on such commonsense principles as not building on sand and not putting large windows in the north wall. But over the centuries feng shui evolved into a complex blend of practical advice and mysticism whose masters are said to be able to gauge prospects for success or failure according to whether shape and location are pleasing to supernatural forces. Pei’s tower design lacked strict adherence to the orthopraxy: its sharp edges and negative symbolism conveyed by the numerous ‘x’ shapes in its original design caused a public outcry.

Ultimately Pei and officials responded with token adjustments to the final design—hiding exposed horizontal beams to turn x’s into lucky diamonds— prior to the tower’s construction.

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L OU V R E P Y R A M I D | 75 0 01 Pa r i s , Fr a n c e | 4 8 . 8 61° N , 2 . 33 6 0 ° E | $15. 8 M­ | 19 8 4 – 93

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08 GRAND LOUVRE PYRAMID In 1983, French President François Mitterrand proposed a project to renovate the Grand Louvre plan, I. M. Pei was awarded the project and proposed a great, glass-paned pyramid to stand over a new entrance in the existing main court, the Cour Napoléon.

Pei was in his sixties, and at the pinnacle of his career when, in 1983 the French government first invited him to Paris. Would he, they asked, undertake the mammoth project of modernizing the sprawling sacred giant? His client would be the glory of France, a privilege the French usually reserved for themselves. It was the most ambitious undertaking in Pei’s career. It also called upon every facet of it; design, urban planning, engineering, and closing the distance between the past and the spirit of modern times. Pei recounts his first uncertainty with the commission: “I did not accept the honor immediately, for very, very good reason. I wanted to be sure that I am the right person to do the work. And I was not sure! The president was sure, but I was not sure. That’s how it began.”

py r a m i da l gr ac e

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The design is a simple geometric structure crowning a new entrance hall. Seen through the southern doorway of the museum, prismatic light casts the courtyard aglow in colors, an ef fect planned by Pei.

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Pei began with the problem as he always did. He began at home. He spent time in retreat. He flew out to the site and he examined it and tried to absorb its very being. He walked the grounds of the endless, antiquated corridors of the world’s largest museum. Then, as always, he searched for the essence of the problem.

“We came to conclusion that the centre of gravity, let’s call it, was at the crux, it is right where the pyramid is today. At that time the place was nothing—some ugly looking trees; it was a parking lot. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could make the entrance there? And there is where the reception is. Well, how can you do it? Nobody would accept putting a structure right in that place. Would should it be? Should it be some 19th century pastiche? And yet, if I don’t build something there, the only way you can get to the center of gravity is by some kind of subterranean approach. Like a subway. And that was not acceptable at all. After all, Louvre is Louvre! And so, the pyramid—glass so as not to detract from the majesty of the existing structure. The pyramid became the answer.”

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WE CAME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT THE CENTER OF GRAVITY WAS AT THE CRUX. —i.m. pei, on the louvre

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CONTROVERSY

Pei faced public resistance in his groundbreaking museum renovation

Design: Pei’s Pyramid Perplexes Paris

The architect plans to put an expanded Louvre under glass

By Wolf Von Eckardt | Monday, Feb. 27, 1984

The Paris newspaper Le Monde indignantly compared it to “an annex to Disneyland.” A

Architect I.M. Pei to build a 66-ft-high glass pyramid smack in the center of one of the sacred

architect, however distinguished, was a foreigner, alors.

The cause of all this furor is a plan by U.S.

renovation with the ultimate disdain of

consortium of French environmental groups said it would be suitable only if it were built in the middle of a desert. Worse yet, the General Inspector of National Palaces lamented that the

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precincts of French culture: the courtyard of the venerable Louvre Museum. While critics have lauded the architect’s past achievements in China and Singapore, Perisians watch the progress of the

t h e wor k of pei

Of all the Grands Projets in Paris, none created such a stir as the Pei Pyramids in the courtyard of the Grand Louvre Museum. Spectacular in concept and form, they provide a startling reminder of the audacious ability of modern architects to invigorate and re-circulate traditional architectural forms.

Not since Gustave Eiffel made the first climb to the top of his tower 100 years ago was the inauguration of a structure in Paris been as dreaded and eagerly awaited as the opening of I. M. Peiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s glass pyramid in the middle of the courtyard of the Louvre. Critics called it an attempt by President Mitterand to make a concrete memory as the pharoahs of old Egypt did. Pei dug in his heels as criticism was launched at his design.

He pointed out that, yes, it was a pyramid, but it would not be the only structure in Paris with Egyptian associations. The 4000 year old obelisk in the Place de la Concorde was an example, as well as Foire du Caire.

The story of the 71-foot-high structure of glass and metal, which would serve as the main public entrance to a significantly remodeled Louvre, bears other resemblances to that of the Eiffel Tower.

Like the tower, the pyramid was at first bitterly denounced by many prominent people in the arts, who viewed it as an unwelcome intrusion of harsh modernism into the sacred precincts of Paris. But also as with the tower, the Parisian mood mellowed as construction proceeded. As the pyramid reached its completion, five years after the unveiling of its design provoked international controversy and accusations that an American architect was destroying the very heart of Paris, President Francois Mitterrand quietly snipped a ribbon, officially opening the pyramid. Its sharpest critics seemed to retreat, and it gradually became fashionable in the city not only to accept the building but even to express genuine enthusiasm for it.

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The central spire of the Pyramide du Louvre is basically a complex inter-linked steel structure sheathed in reflective glass. In fact it is an entrance doorway providing long-overdue entrance portico to the main galleries of the Louvre. As one descends into the interior entrance foyer, the dramatic nature of the intervention becomes apparent. The main pyramid, which certainly disturbs the balance of the old Louvre courtyard, is countered by four smaller pyramids, which provide further illumination and ventilation to the subterranean spaces.

The original buildings of the Louvre, which surround the pyramid on three sides, are visible through it, owing to unusually clear and colorless glass the architects ordered from the St. Gobains, the French glassmakers. The clear glass, for which the Louvre has specially budgeted for an exterior cleaning twice a month, is held in place by a tension structure of thin metal cables, inspired by sailboat construction and by the work of R. Buckminster Fuller, reknowned for his glass geodesic domes.

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The pyramid is but the tip of the iceberg of the new Louvre, however, which under Pei’s guidance has transformed itself into a new kind of museum based largely on American models. The largest part of the project, which costed more than $1 billion by the time it was completely finished in 1993, is beneath the pyramid and the Cour Napoleon, the Louvre’s central courtyard. More than 650,000 square feet of new space has been built underground, an underground addition that contains more than the entire floor area of the structure that was heretofore Pei’s most famous museum, the East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

The vast new underground Louvre contains a 29-foot-high main hall beneath the glass pyramid, shops, cafeterias, an auditorium and education and information facilities for visitors, and storage and work areas for the staff. Mindful of the grand as well as human level, Pei also provided for an underground bus depot as well, to accommodate the dozens of tour buses that bring most of the museum’s visitors.

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M I H O M U S E U M | 3 0 0 S h i g a r a k i c h o Ta s h i r o , K o k a , J a p a n | 4 2 . 3159 º N , 71. 03 41ºW | $ 70 .4 M­ | 2 0 0 0 – 03 a pe ach bl os som dr e a m

The placement and architecture of the Miho museum is inf luenced by a Japanese folk tale, meant to evoke the aesthetic of traditional and modern, as a Shangri-La discovered by contemporary explorers in an ancient mountain retreat.

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09 MIHO MUSEUM The Miho Museum is a joint Japanese and American project completed by I. M. Pei and Kibowkan International. The idea for it was conceived in August of 1996 on a scenic mountainside in a nature preserve near the town of Shigaraki, Japan.

In 1988, Pei decided that he would no longer taken on very large projects, only carefully selected smaller ones. His first project after deciding to retire had been a bell tower, sponsored by the matriarch of a spiritual organization called Shinji Shumeikai and inaugurated in a wilderness site near Kyoto, Japan in 1990. Mihoko Koyama, called Kaishusama, was one of the richest women in Japan and her next task for the aging architect was a small museum for oriental art which she had amassed over the years. Her rapport with Pei was in part formed by their shared literary culture. Koyama was well-educated in the Chinese classics and they were able to communicate in writing in Chinese. When Pei quoted a fourth-century poem called â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Peach Blossom Springâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; it struck a chord with her and she immediately embraced this concept for the Japanese museum.

f l oor pl a n

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The f loor plan shows the main entrance level with the suspension bridge in the upper right extending towards the isolated museum terraces.

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MIHO MUSEUM IS THE IDEALS OF —TRUE BEAUTY ESSENCE OF THE HIGHEST VIRTUE ACKNOWLEDGING WITHIN NATURE.

BY THE BUILDING MASTERPIECES IN

AN EXPRESSION OF SHINJI SHUMEIKAI DERIVES FROM THE NATURAL WORLD. COMES FROM ONE MANKIND’S PLACE THEY REALIZE THIS OF ARCHITECTURAL REMOTE PLACES

The site for the museum was remote like the tower, and had a difficult approach. Pei worked with and within the hilly landscape with the unusual proposal to construct a tunnel combined with a suspension bridge to get to the site without destroying the natural environment. As a bonus, the mountain ridge would permit a surprise to the final approach to the museum. In this way, the journey could be deliberately prolonged and characterized by concealment and unveiling. The orchestration heightens the temporal experience of the site, invoking the Japanese principle of ma, or the timestructured experience of space.

Today, a single route leads up to the museum site. Visitors arive from Kyoto by bus or car to a reception pavilion, located a short distance away from the museum hidden amid a forest of cedars.

The bulk of the museum is obscured by mountain

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slope. Visitors may make their way on foot or take electric cars through the tunnel to the mountain which opens to a 400 ft flying bridge spanning a deep valley. The bridge uses an innovative combination of cantilevered, cable-stayed, and post-tensioned design that permits it to be just 6.5 ft deep. In 2002, it received the prestigious Outstanding Structure Award from the International Association for Bridge and Structureal Engineering for its “light and airy structure, epitomizing structural beauty and artistic elegance while preserving the nature reserve below.”

Entering the hidden valley the final shape of the building coalesces. The museum is naturally informed by the topography of the site, but also by prefectural regulations, which allowed only a fraction of the building exposed to the surface. 85% of it is set into the deep hill. Pei’s working within these restrictions is felt in every aspect. The museum’s details reflect the architect’s innovative endeavors to break new ground, as with the novel appearance of sloped glass roofs composed of space frames, the warmth of the materials used, especially Magny Doré limestone from France and colored architectural concrete, and the system and the equipment which he selected for exhibiting the works of art under the optimum conditions.

Pei’s work on the Miho Museum represents his working to create a synthesis, isolating the essence of different historical and philosophical strands, and bringing them together in a resolutely modern form.

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S U Z H OU M U S E U M | 2 0 4 D o n g b e i Ji e , S u z h o u , C h i n a | 31. 32 3 º N , 12 0 . 632 º E | $52 .1M­ | 2 0 0 0 – 0 6

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10 SUZHOU MUSEUM Constructed in the town of his ancestors, the Suzhou Museum is the third building designed by I.M. Pei in China. In many ways it is a legacy that he leaves in the home of his ancestors. The building seeks to build on Chinese tradition and remains modest in scale.

Pei’s involvement in Suzhou included involvement in study and implementation of policies for the preservation of Suzhou’s historic district, and was significant because it was a kind of return to his roots, and it demonstrated his strong belief in the importance of history. The new Suzhou Museum is located almost adjacent to the Humble Administrator’s Garden in the heart of the historic city. The garden, the largest in Suzhou, measures almost 13 acres and was built after 1513 by a retired imperial inspector named Wang Xian Chen.

This garden, together with three others in Suzhou was added to the unesco world heritage list in 1997 and the new Suzhou Museum was constructed around it.

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Pei was clearly inspired by the surroundings and notably the gardens of Suzhou in designing the museum. “When you are looking for old architecture in China, there is not that much of it,” he explained.

“There are palaces like the Forbidden City or Buddhist temples and monasteries. The rest is made up of villages and towns where people live and work.

In cultural buildings, garden and building are one— they are not seperate. I can’t imagine doing a building in China without a garden.

There is no distinction between garden and rooms; they are joined together. It cannot be too big—they are always on a human scale.” In this way the Suzhou museum is related to the tradtion of the Chinese house, which has a tradition of gardens behind walls.

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In contrast to his earlier work in China there is significant difference; they all had flat roofs. Pei gave the Suzhou Museum a volumetric solution, and that was a major change. Though there are slopes in the roof configurations, the basic design remains rectilinear, rising in orchestrated pattern.

Within the walls of the Suzhou Museum one of the most notable featurs is the large pond. “Water is very important,”says Pei. “Chinese gardens conssit of three elements—water, rock, and plants. There is no such thing as a lawn in China. You don’t go out into the garden and play badminton. People like to meander and to lose themselves in a garden.

In the case of the museum we did not want people to meander outside, but to stay in the museum.”

t h e wor k of pei a v i e w of pa s t a n d f u t u r e

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The geometerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s touch is seen in a hexagonal window framing the view towards a stylized garden court.

a n d e v e ry t h i ng i n i ts pl ac e v

Pei had a hand in the small details of structure, right down to supervising arrangement of foliage and rocks.

The blocky building had an unusually favorable public reaction. Despite past criticism with the Louvre it should be unsurprising. The warm acceptance is likely related to the fact that Pei made a considerable effort to fit its gray and white structure into its historical environment while providing a modern facility.

Similarly, the museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s collection is heterogeneous; it houses works from the Neolithic all the way to the contemporary, which makes sense in the context of a building where ancient Chinese traditions are sublimated and brought forward into the present.

There is a modern character mirrored in Peiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s later projects like the Suzhou Museum which is in stark contrast to the utopian purity of his tutors Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius in that they represent a

formidable quest to capture the undeniable essence of cultures. There is a continuity that links the museums of the Louvre to Suzhou to Doha, and it is not merely stylistic. His interest in the past does not make him an apostate of modernism; rather it reveals, yet again, his personal search for ways to express the deep links that can exist between a truly modern building and the past. From carefully selected trees to slices of mountain rock farmed from the ancient lakes, much effort was expended to align with guiding principles for one of the most sensitive districts of Suzhou, which he hoped might show the way for general redevelopment and revitalization of the area while maintaining and enhancing its historical character, from long-term planning to implementation.

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M U S E U M O F I S L A M IC A R T | D o h a Po r t , D o h a , Q a t a r | 25.174 º N , 51. 32 2 º E | $33 0 M­ | 2 0 0 0 – 0 8 con v e rg e nc e of pa s t a n d f u t u r e

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The Islamic Museum of Art was the first of Qatar’s large museums, and was also one of its most iconic. Rising from the embrace of a crescent-shaped, man-made island on the Persian Gulf, its cuboid form can be seen from miles away.

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11 MUSEUM OF ISLAMIC ART At the age of 91, Pei was coaxed out of retirement to undertake the Museum of Islamic Art. His work on the Louvre taught him the importance of grasping local imperatives, so in order to prepare, he traveled through the Muslim world on a sixmonth quest to learn about Muslim architecture and history.

Doha is located on a peninsula in the Persian Gulf. It has a long history of weaving and fabric-making. With the accession of His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani in 1995, Qatar entered a new period of modernization and social transformation. The most visible aspect of this can be seen in the capital of Doha, a modern yet austere city which retains many aspects of its traditions, earning it the name “City of Balance”. Its 4.6-mi long waterfront promenade, called the Corniche, is bordered by a number of high-rise buildings and is the capital’s most central and popular feature. It was here that Qatari officials wished Pei to build a masterpiece museum.

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v i e w s of doh a

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The main building angular volumes step back progressively as they rise around a one-hundred-sixty-foot-high domed atrium, which is concealed from outside view by the walls of a central tower. The museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s arcades embrace pavilions, courtyards, and other meeting spaces

a nc i e n t mode l s

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Peiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inspiration was the 13th-century ablutions fountain of the Mosque of Ahmad Ibn Tulun in Cairo, Eg ypt. The ancient structure of fered an almost Cubist expression of geometric progression, evoking an abstract vision of the key design elements of Islamic architecture.

con t e m por a ry e x pr e s sion

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Declining to build the structure on any of the proposed sites along the Corniche, Pei suggested a stand-alone island be created to ensure future buildings would never encroach on the museum. Its cubist profile stands uninterrupted on the horizon of Qatar.

t h e s a nc t i t y of l ight gi v e n for m

The austerity and simplicity of the museum has a severe architecture which comes to life in the light of the sun, casting striking shadows and variations of colour.

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v

suc c e s s is a c ol l e c t ion of probl e ms solv e d.

III

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R E T I R E M E N T | 257 Pa r k Av e nu e , N e w Yo r k , N Y | 25.174 º N , 51. 32 2 º E | 2 010 a l eg ac y to r e m e m be r

“There’s no instant gratification in creating a work of art, I just don’t find that that is possible. So a work of art— architecture or whatever it is—I think needs time to finally make a judgement as to whether it’s right or not. And I think the time factor is very important to my work.”

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01 AN AWARD-WINNING CAREER Throughout his extensive career, Pei has been the beneficiary of multiple forms of recognition, awards, and accolades for his iconic style and singular impact upon the field of architecture.

In the words of his biographer, Pei has won “every award of any consequence in his art”, including the Arnold Brunner Award from the National Institute of Arts and Letters (1963), the Gold Medal for Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1979), the AIA Gold Medal (1979), the first Praemium Imperiale for Architecture from the Japan Art Association (1989), the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, and the 2010 Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects. In 1983 he was awarded the Pritzker Prize, sometimes called the Nobel Prize of architecture. In its citation, the jury said: “Ieoh Ming Pei has given this century some of its most beautiful interior spaces and exterior forms [...] His versatility and skill in the use of materials approach the level of poetry.” In being awarded the 2003 Henry C. Turner Prize by the National Building Museum, then-museum board chair Carolyn Brody praised his impact on construction innovation: “His magnificent designs have challenged engineers to devise innovative structural solutions, and his exacting expectations for construction quality have encouraged contractors to achieve high standards.” In 1992, Pei was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George H.W. Bush.

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Looking back, Pei’s work is corporate in character cultural complexes and only rarely, and almost guiltily, Chinese. Indeed, Pei identifies as a Western architect, always aiming towards a sacred, syncretic approach to capture past, future, and cutural sensibilities: “I prefer not to use labels. To me, it’s just architecture. There’s no such thing as modern architecture, post-modern architecture, or even deconstructivism—you can use all the -ism you want, I don’t believe in any of them. They come and they go! And the one that really survives, lasting, is architecture. Architecture of that time.”

Pei never identified as a modernist, though he is labeled as one. For the length of his long and successful career he has been considered a professional of high stakes and enormous costs where the sparring doctrines heatedly compete to speak for the times.

Through all of it Pei weathered changes in taste by following an independent course, choosing continual refinement over novelty for novelty’s sake. All his buildings wear their modernity with grace rarely seen during the years of the American building boom.

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As a modernist, Pei should ultimately join his former teacher Walter Gropius amongst the most-praised architects of the 20th century. But he is important for other reasons: crucially, as the first non-Western-born architect to rise to the peaks of the global profession.

That ascent is worth examining, because it says much about both the profession, and this architect’s managerial acumen­— his major legacy.

The prestige that accrued from business buildings was never enough for Pei. Beginning with Zeckendorf, his corporate office designs kept the lights on but never spoke to his heart. So, whenever he could he called in his social markers for other opportunities to make an impact on the cultural world: his best work comes through in shaping art galleries and museums and libraries. This ongoing interest in cultural buildings and inter-cultural dialogue is what separates the Brahmin Pei from the alphabet soup of his peer firms, the soms, hoks and kpfs.

At 22 years and counting in his retirement Pei has built more and practiced longer than most architects ever do, and, with his two architect sons playing an increasing role, his dynastic succession in the world of architecture is assured.

t h e l eg ac y of pei

BE POLITE, BUT ONE HAS TO PERSIST, AND NEVER GIVE UP ON PRINCIPLE! —i.m. pei

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THE HEIGHTS OF FAME A SMALL SELECTION OF PEI’S TALLEST OF TOWERS

miami tower miami 625 ft

raffle city singapore 518 ft

ocbc tower singapore 649 ft

1500

1000

750

500

250

0

john hancock tower boston 790 ft

fountain place tower dallas 720 ft

bank of china tower hong kong 1200 ft

jpmorgan tower houston 1000 ft

THE SCIONS OF PEI Architects carry forward Peiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lessons and teachings

l i ch u ng pe i v

ch i e n ch u ng pe i v

As the middle son of I.M. Pei, Chien was taught the vision, commitment and professional standards for creation of significant and lasting architecture during his formative years.

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Li Chung practiced at the firm of his father before leaving to establish Pei Partnership Architects with his brother C. C. Pei. For 35 years he has worked projects ranging from schools, laboratories, and museums to hotels.

t h e l eg ac y of pei

pe r ry ch i n v

cu rt is f e n t r e s s v

A protégé of Pei, Fentress has developed a reputation as a hybrid architect, developing iconic design ref lective of regional culture, within the budgetary confines associated with high profile public architecture. He is known among students of architecture for his observations on the process of large-scale design.

A protégé and confidant of I.M. Pei, Chin has worked with Pei on projects such as the Miho Museum and renovations for the East Building of the National Gallery in Washington.

pr i de of pe i

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Pei attending an Ellis Island Family Heritage Award Ceremony in 2004 with one of his young grandsons, 8-year old Matthew Pei Kracklauer.

REFERENCES 1. I.M. Pei : A Profile in American Architecture. Wiseman, Carter. 1990 2. The Complete Works of I.M. Pei. Jodido, Philip. Adams, Janet. 2008 3. I.M. Pei. Ried, Aileen. 1995 4. Pei Cobb Freed & Partners website (www.pcf-p.com) 5. First Person Singular: I.M. Pei. Rosen, Peter. 1997