When the military forces of the Soviet Union occupied Hungary after World War II, his father took his family to Italy, where they settled in Rome.
Pei's firm in 1956, working as the design architect for the Kips Bay Plaza[2] and Washington Square East.
In 1963, he came back Italy and established an office on the Piazza Navona in Rome, where he has developed projects in more than 15 nations around the world.
He became the chief architect for the Italian real estate developer Società Generale Immobiliare (SGI).
[4] In May 1962, he and Luigi Moretti successfully defended the Watergate complex's design in a special three-hour meeting with the members of the United States Commission of Fine Arts: SGI's chief architect, Gabor Acs, with professor Luigi Moretti of the University of Rome flew to New York City to defend their designs.