I. M. Pei

[2][36] In the spring of 1948, Pei was recruited by New York real estate magnate William Zeckendorf to join a staff of architects for his firm of Webb and Knapp to design buildings around the country.

[40] Pei's designs echoed the work of Mies van der Rohe in the beginning of his career as also shown in his own weekend-house in Katonah, New York in 1952.

As with previous projects, abundant green spaces were central to Pei's vision, which added traditional townhouses to aid the transition from classical to modern design.

According to The Canadian Encyclopedia : its grand plaza and lower office buildings, designed by internationally famous US architect I. M. Pei, helped to set new standards for architecture in Canada in the 1960s ...

The tower's smooth aluminum and glass surface and crisp unadorned geometric form demonstrate Pei's adherence to the mainstream of 20th-century modern design.

President Kennedy had begun considering the structure of his library soon after taking office, and he wanted to include archives from his administration, a museum of personal items, and a political science institute.

[68] Pei's first proposed design included a large glass pyramid that would fill the interior with sunlight, meant to represent the optimism and hope that Kennedy's administration had symbolized for so many in the United States.

The plan generated mixed results and opinion, largely succeeding in re-developing office building and parking infrastructure but failing to attract its anticipated retail and residential development.

As a result, Oklahoma City's leadership avoided large-scale urban planning for downtown throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, until the passage of the Metropolitan Area Projects (MAPS) initiative in 1993.

[82] Jonsson, a co-founder of Texas Instruments, learned about Pei from his associate Cecil Howard Green, who had recruited the architect for MIT's Earth Sciences building.

John Hancock Insurance chairman Robert Slater hired I. M. Pei & Partners to design a building that could overshadow the Prudential Tower, erected by their rival.

[106] After visiting his ancestral home in Suzhou, Pei created a design based on some simple but nuanced techniques he admired in traditional residential Chinese buildings.

Younger Chinese who had hoped the building would exhibit some of Cubist flavor for which Pei had become known were disappointed, but the new hotel found more favor with government officials and architects.

Pei was also meticulous about the arrangement of items in the garden behind the hotel; he even insisted on transporting 230 short tons (210 t) of rocks from a location in southwest China to suit the natural aesthetic.

[112] As the Fragrant Hill project neared completion, Pei began work on the Javits Center in New York City, for which his associate James Freed served as lead designer.

Hoping to create a vibrant community institution in what was then a run-down neighborhood on Manhattan's west side, Freed developed a glass-coated structure with an intricate space frame of interconnected metal rods and spheres.

City regulations forbid a general contractor having final authority over the project, so architects and program manager Richard Kahan had to coordinate the wide array of builders, plumbers, electricians, and other workers.

In an attempt to soothe public ire, Pei took a suggestion from then-mayor of Paris Jacques Chirac and placed a full-sized cable model of the pyramid in the courtyard.

"[130] The pyramid achieved further widespread international recognition for its central role in the plot at the denouement of The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown and its appearance in the final scene of the subsequent screen adaptation.

[137] Pei's design placed the rigid shoebox at an angle to the surrounding street grid, connected at the north end to a long rectangular office building, and cut through the middle with an assortment of circles and cones.

Billionaire tycoon Ross Perot made a donation of US$10 million, on the condition that it be named in honor of Morton H. Meyerson, the longtime patron of the arts in Dallas.

Given the elder Pei's history with the bank before the Communist takeover, government officials visited the 89-year-old man in New York to gain approval for his son's involvement.

The small parcel of land made a tall tower necessary, and Pei had usually shied away from such projects; in Hong Kong especially, the skyscrapers lacked any real architectural character.

Using the reflective glass that had become something of a trademark for him, Pei organized the facade around diagonal bracing in a union of structure and form that reiterates the triangle motif established in the plan.

He wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times titled "China Won't Ever Be the Same", in which he said that the killings "tore the heart out of a generation that carries the hope for the future of the country".

[148] Using a glass wall for the entrance, similar in appearance to his Louvre pyramid, Pei coated the exterior of the main building in white metal, and placed a large cylinder on a narrow perch to serve as a performance space.

The museum's coordinators were pleased with the project; its official website describes its "true splendour unveiled in the sunlight," and speaks of "the shades of colour and the interplay of shadows paying tribute to the essence of Islamic architecture".

[161] The main part of the building is a distinctive conical shape with a spiral walkway and large atrium inside, similar to that of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

[162] He was known for combining traditional architectural principles with progressive designs based on simple geometric patterns—circles, squares, and triangles are common elements of his work in both plan and elevation.

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.

The Shizilin Garden in Suzhou. Men and women stand on curving rock formations overlooking a pond containing flowery plants.
As a child, Pei found the Shizilin Garden in Suzhou to be "an ideal playground". [ 7 ]
The Bund area of Shanghai. Pedestrians walk before a row of trees and a series of tall buildings. A blue sky overhead is obscured slightly by several clouds.
Pei describes the architecture of Shanghai's Bund waterfront area (seen here in a 2004 photo) as "very much a colonial past". [ 15 ]
131 Ponce de Leon Avenue in Atlanta
Pei's first project (1949): 131 Ponce de Leon Avenue , Atlanta
The L'Enfant Plaza complex of office buildings. Two buildings are visible, arranged around a courtyard.
Pei wanted the open spaces and buildings of L'Enfant Plaza to be "functionally and visually related" to one another. [ 42 ]
The Mesa Laboratory of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a series of brown boxlike buildings, stands in front of a mountain.
Pei said he wanted the Mesa Laboratory of the National Center for Atmospheric Research to look "as if it were carved out of the mountain". [ 55 ]
The New College of Florida campus. In front of a dormitory building to the right is a grid of palm trees arranged in a tiled courtyard.
As with NCAR, Pei combined elements of cubism and natural harmony when designing the dormitories at New College of Florida in the mid-1960s. [ 61 ]
The John F. Kennedy Library, a white triangular tower, rises beside a black glass building, with circular structures on either side.
Pei considered the John F. Kennedy Library "the most important commission" in his life. [ 64 ]
A view of Providence's Cathedral Square on a sunny winter day. At left is a grove of trees without leaves.
Providence's Cathedral Square, modeled after the Greek Agora marketplace
The Lamar Building, a skyscraper with a pyramidal penthouse, as seen from a distance, with buildings on either side.
The distinctive modern pyramid shaped penthouse, designed by Pei, that was added to the top of the historic Lamar Building in 1976
Dallas City Hall, a tall beige building with an angled front facade. The facade leans outward from the top, supported by three pillars, and is covered with rows of windows.
Pei wanted his design for Dallas City Hall to "convey an image of the people". [ 81 ]
Two dark buildings rise into the early evening sky. The tower on the right, the Hancock Tower, has plywood on its side.
The disastrous failure of windows on the Hancock Tower required replacing them with plywood; some called it "the world's tallest wood building". [ 88 ]
Herbert F. Johnson Museum at Cornell University, a concrete structure with narrow sides supporting a floor on top.
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art , Cornell University
The exterior of the National Gallery East Building, a large gray building, rises above a stone plaza. Short square towers appear on either side of the building, and an array of irregular glass pyramids are in the middle of the plaza.
Time magazine headlined its review of Pei's design for the East Building "Masterpiece on the Mall". [ 95 ]
The interior of the National Gallery East Building. A large open cement room contains several people on the ground far below a balcony. Several trees are planted in the concrete floor, and an array of clear windows let in sunshine from above.
Critic Richard Hennessy complained in Artforum about the East Building's "shocking fun-house atmosphere". [ 100 ]
The Fragrant Hill Hotel, a white building with ornamented windows, faces a lake ringed with rock structures. Trees appear around the structure.
Pei was surprised by public resistance to his traditional design of the hotel at Fragrant Hills in China. "Many people thought I was being reactionary," he said. [ 105 ]
The Javits Center, a building of dark tinted glass, stands over a city street. The corners of the building are smoothed at 45-degree angles.
Pei said of the Javits Center : "The complications exceeded even my expectations." [ 113 ]
The Louvre museum, a classical building with ornamentation on its facade, rises above a small crowd. Rounded archways line the front of the structure.
Pei was acutely aware, as he said, that "the history of Paris was embedded in the stones of the Louvre." [ 117 ]
The Louvre pyramid, a gray structure, sits in the center of a courtyard, surrounded by ancient buildings.
Pei decided that a pyramid was "most compatible" with the other structures at the Louvre, complementing their roofs' faceted planes. [ 117 ]
The Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, a beige cube rising at an angle around a half-cone made of glass and steel. In front, a square archway overlooks a stone courtyard.
Although he usually designed entirely by hand, Pei used a computer to "confirm the spaces" for the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas . [ 135 ]
The Bank of China Tower, a skyscraper with triangular shapes on a glass facade.
The trunk of the Bank of China Tower resembles growing bamboo, a symbol of vitality in Chinese culture. [ 142 ]
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a gray tiled building, rises over a lake, with a cylinder set on a narrow pole, and a sloping glass wall on one end.
One staff member sympathized with Pei's frustrations with the lack of organization at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame , admitting that he was "operating in a vacuum". [ 147 ]
A passageway at the Miho Museum. A curving circular tunnel opens to reveal a building with a tall sloping roof and a circular window in the front door.
Pei's tunnel through a mountain leading to the Miho Museum was partly inspired by a story from fourth-century Chinese poet Tao Yuanming . [ 154 ]
The Macao Science Center, a conical steel structure. There is a body of water in front of the building.
The Macao Science Center in Macau, designed by Pei Partnership Architects in association with I. M. Pei.