Ieoh Ming Pei was born in Canton, China on April 26, 1917. His ancestors lived for more than 600 years in Suzhou, a city in the Yangtze basin, northwest of Shanghai. The city of Suzhou flourished in rice and silk trade. The proverbial saying was, "In heaven there is paradise and on earth, Suzhou." At the time of Pei’s birth, Suzhou experienced political turbulence.
Pei’s father Tseujee, who worked in a bank, was asked to shift his family to the safety at Hong Kong, where they lived for nine years. There, Pei’s sister Wei and two brothers Kwan and Chung were born. In 1927 the family returned to mainland China and Pei’s father was made the manager of the bank in Shanghai. Their relationship was similar to the one that existed between Gandhi and his father.
Pei’s mother Lien Kwan was a gifted flute player and a devout Buddhist. Pei being the eldest son was her favorite. He felt at ease in her company and approached her with his problems. Because of this intimate rapport, she took him to religious retreats. This bond was broken on his mother death when he was 13 years old. But his love and the visit to the Buddhist temple remained engraved deep within him.
Even as a young boy, Pei noticed the interface of buildings and nature in the gardens. He was especially impressed by the way light and shadow interplay that created tremendous impact on the their design. After 50 years, Pei returned to this garden to refresh his memory before pursuing an architectural design project – The Fragrant Hill Hotel in Beijing, China.
Art and commerce were both ingrained in Pei’s upbringing. He started his education at St John’s Middle School in Shanghai. At 17, Pei came to America in 1935, hoping to study architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, one of America’s top architecture schools. After two weeks, Pei was discouraged by the heavy emphasis on drawing. He lacked confidence; he thought his drawing skills were not at par with his peers.
Ieoh Ming Pei, after having school education from China, went to the United States to study Architecture. This Architect achieved eminence in the field due to his majestic, aesthetically and technically superior constructions in the U.S.A. Pei at first thought that architecture was not his cup of tea, since his peers excelled him in drawing. He discontinued architecture to study engineering. But, fate had other designs for him chartering his future in the field.
As a child he admired nature. As he grew his designing was influenced by the diversities in nature. The buildings that Pei designed, tower against the sky throughout the world. As an architect, he carved a niche for himself. He combines learned skill with his gift of knowing what works, both, functionally and aesthetically. Pei had met with a lot of criticism – good and bad – throughout his career. He has never compromised his designs to suit the whims of others.
This well-known Chinese-American architect, left his indelible mark on buildings like the John F Kennedy library and the Louvre Museum. There are countless feathers in his cap, which still sing paeans of this architectural giant even today, after gracefully retiring from work in the late nineties
April 26, 1917
Birth of I. M. Pei at Canton in China.
1934
Left for United States.
1940
Received Bachelor Of Architecture degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
1942
Enrolled at Harvard Graduate School of Design.
1945-1948
He taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1948
Joined Webb and Knapp, Inc. and served on the National Defence Committee. He worked with the developer William Zeckendorf on a number of large urban projects including the Mile High Center in Denver, a masterpiece of International Style.
1955
Established I M Pei and Associates.
1961
Made the Government Center in Boston.
1964
The Society Hill in Philadelphia.
1964
Designed John F Kennedy Memorial Library at Harvard University.
1967
The National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder Colorado.
1973
The John Hancock Tower, Boston.
1971-78
The East Wing of the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
1986
The Jacob Javits Exposition and Convention Center, New York City.
1989
Louvre Museum, Paris.
1990
Bank of China in Hong Kong.
1995
The Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland.
1998
Miho Museum, Kyoto.
Ieoh Ming Pei as a brilliant Chinese-American, back in Shanghai, saw many new buildings under construction. Pei was awed by the first high rise building he ever saw. It was 23 storey high ! Wherever he went, he began to be acutely aware of the buildings and the structures that surrounded him.
Pei has designed over 50 projects in America and abroad, many of which have been award winners.
Pei’s buildings were emerging from the old to modern. People still could not assimilate this new trend. Pei cites an example of how a house designed by him for a friend in Cambridge was refused a mortgage because it looked modern. "In this sense I belong to that generation of American architects who built upon the pioneering perceptions of the modern movement, with an unwavering conviction in its significant achievements in the field of art, technology and design," he said.
Pei wanted his architectural work to be accepted as an art. The design should be conceived out of necessity. One should have freedom of expression, but he should not be carried away. Freedom should be movement within a measured range, he felt. He recalls Leonardo da Vinci’s counsel that "strength is born of constraint and dies in freedom."
According to him, "Architects by design investigate the play of volumes in light, explore the mysteries of movement in space, examine the measure that is scale and proportion, and above all, they search for that special quality that is the spirit of the place as no building exists alone."
In 1968, Pei initiated work on the east wing of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. The completion of the east wing secured Pei’s place among the elite architects of the world. The east wing proved to be the first of many internationally acclaimed buildings of Pei. It was hailed as one of his finest achievements.
In general, Pei’s designs represent an extension of and elaboration on the rectangular forms and irregular silhouettes of the prevailing international style. He is notable however, for his bold and skillful arrangements and groups of geometric shapes and for his dramatic use of richly contrasted materials, spaces and surfaces.
He has refused to limit himself to a narrow range of architectural problems. His work over the past 40 years includes not only palaces of industry, government and culture, but also moderate and low-income housing. His versatility and skill in the use of materials approach the level of poetry. Pei’s most controversial work was his expansion of the most famous museum in the world, the Louvre in Paris. When he presented his glass pyramid expansion as the new entrance to the museum, he received much criticism because his designs were too radical and because he was not French, but a Chinese American. Eventually Pei’s design won approval from the French Commission, intellectuals and media persons. Pei’s glass pyramid was erected and completed with great acclaim and enjoyment by the public.
Pei’s conviction always earned him his projects. His earlier projects spoke volumes for him. Amidst stiff competition and public opinion Pei was awarded the project. It was to be the crown jewel of his grand projects.
Pei carried out his architectural projects with meticulous precision. He evaluated every project before settling down to it. Pei says "that if he thought about design in his native Chinese the vociferous guardians of French culture… would have derived little comfort from the image of an American plotting the Louvre’s future in Chinese". Pei’s prodigious credentials as an institutional image-maker, his appointment provoked disapproval, particularly from French architects, who viewed him as an interloper
Pei’s career spanned over a long period. At the time he designed the Louvre Museum, he appeared to be a slender soft-spoken person. "His face was mottled with age, but despite his 64 years he radiated a restless ticking alertness and boundless enthusiasm."
Pei is known for his ability to converse with anyone on any topic in a voice that still carries traces of China and his playful, expressive face lights up at the mention of his wide-ranging interests – French and Chinese cuisine, abstract art, gardening, travel and wine. "Pei dresses impeccably in conservative suits custom tailored in Hong Kong. One architecture critic has described his wardrobe as ‘formal’, but not so formal that you’d mistake him for a banker. It has just enough flair to let you know he’s creative."
As a Chinese-American, Pei offered the best of both worlds. He could import new world flash and efficiency without appearing conspicuously American. His Mandarin ancestry somehow inoculated him against French xenophobia. After bagging the Louvre project Pei commented, "I think being a Chinese-American has not hurt. History, you see is important to the French and I hope that I was able to convince them that I came from a country with a long history and I would not take this problem lightly."
Pei’s love for Nature always over rode his concrete structure, given a choice between 40 trees or piece of sculptor for the open area between buildings. Pei chooses the trees 'because it was for the people living in these buildings'.
Even while designing the Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, he said, "All of my work up to then was in cities. I’d seen the skyscrapers of New York – but they were nothing compared to the Rocky Mountains."
Pei had many partners in his company. But his wife played an important role in his career. Pei always tests his ideas on his wife. She is honest and direct. "And she’s always right," Pei admits.
Pei was blessed with four children. Pei’s relationship with his children was warm, but somewhat distant. His younger son Li Chung also known as Sandi along with his elder brother Chuin Chung were architects in Pei’s firm. Li is said to be more of an observer than a participant in his father’s life. Pei’s excellence in architecture can be well judged by the comments of Per Wahlin, a photographer. He had gone to America to celebrate the American Revolution Bicentennial. "The trip turned out to be a revolution in itself." It was here that he started his career as an architectural photographer.
When leaving Boston he had seen none of the Revolution sites, because he had spent his time in photographing the modern architecture of the city.
Wahlin had the opportunity of traveling with his cousin from Philadelphia to Miami stopping by many of the big cities. He felt he was in heaven, having never imagined that modern architecture could be so fascinating. At this he knew nothing about American architecture, but he had taken photographs of buildings in 40 rolls. "So the first thing I did upon my return to Stockholm was to go to places where I could find the American architecture magazines, in order to find out what buildings I had taken those 40 rolls of. He was amazed to find that most of the buildings, which had captivated him were the ones designed by I M Pei and Partners". This had changed his life. From then on during his vacation, he toured all the cities where Pei had designed buildings. It was like a pilgrimage to him. He had clicked photographs of almost 80 per cent of Pei’s buildings.
His unabated interest made him question what is it that makes him spell bound ? What aspect of it captures his imagination? He analyses it saying, "It is the firm’s consistent use of geometric forms, especially triangles and parallelograms that make their buildings so exciting as photographic objects." The other two matters were his use of concrete and use of reflective glass. According to him, if an award given to architect for his works is a good meter of how good he is, as a designer.
Per Wahlin has also made a list of the top 10 building of Pei because he feels in his design all objects have the same value.
Pei’s love for his country was always in him. He wanted these students after acquiring all the skills to return to their motherland and serve her to their ability.
One of Pei’s gift to China was the Fragrant Hill Hotel, Beijing, China. Pei says that the success of this project was its stability and the way it blended with the surroundings. Pei was decorated with laurels in the later part of his life, when he took up many a challenging projects.
Pei was criticized a lot for his repetitive use of glass pyramids. As a cultural awakening, French President Francois Mitterrand launched grand building projects unprecedented in modern France. Mitterrand intended to have architect Pei whose National Gallery had opened to much acclaim. Pei proposed for an office complex that would have brought order to Manhattan–like mess of high
rises in the fringe neighborhood of La Defense at the Western end of the five-mile Louvre–Etoile axis. Pei seemed to have won the La Defense job until, at the last moment, it was awarded to a French architect with the right political connections.
Pei imparts unshakable self-assurance and an ambassadorial sense of propriety. He knows how to be gracious without being obsequious. When Mitterrand asked if he would be available for a government commission, Pei politely explained that he no longer was part of commissions at the last stage of his career.
Pei was particular not to belittle his hard-earned reputation. He was sure he was worthy of the project. He really bagged the project and was able to transform and rescue the museum from disorder and decay. The lighting problem was solved. The filthy floors received a face life. Worst of all the Louvre was confusing. After searching the perimeter for one of the narrow poorly marked entrances – one curator said the most frequently asked question was "How do we get in Pei’s solution that was a 70 foot pyramid?" The press accounts reported the delegates ‘stupefaction’ and alarm at seeing a glass pyramid disfiguring the Louvre’s semi sacred grounds. The commission’s former chief architect, Betrand Honnet condemned the scheme as "beyond our mental space" and "a gigantic, ruinous budget."
Pei’s pyramid thus became the fulcrum upon which French politics seesawed. The work that initially caused some controversy is now established as one of the landmarks of Paris. It has earned him countless awards and distinctions and the enduring respect of many nations.
Pei believed that every century should have a prominent symbol with the Louvre, as every century is represented in the museum’s encyclopedia art collection. The glass pyramid suggests both history and modernism simultaneously from Pei. In 1990, Pei retired from active management of his firm, now known as Pei, Cobb, Freed and Partners. In 1993, encouraged by his children and others he offered to design one of the most popular museums of the United States, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. This museum, like many of Pei’s buildings is styled to international style. It uses a great deal of glass and other ingenious materials and forms. The mall’s most prominent features are the large walkways and escalators. The museums strategically located ticket and information desk allows crowds to move from the front doors to the all-important escalators upon which visitors travel from exhibition gallery to gallery effortlessly.
The physical form of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame building refers to the symbols of the recording industry. A grand patio and pavilion area accommodates live outdoor, stadium style concerts. At one entrance to the museum, a major exhibition area in the
form of a record turntable and spindle serve as gallery space. Finally the major framework of the museum is a large pyramidal form in glass. This allows visitors to view other floors as well as the outside of the building while riding escalators between gallery levels. This building is a stunning structure, a marvel of museum architecture, and a major accomplishment for both the architect and the history of architecture.
Pei’s designing is compared to music. "As an architect he has to learn to eliminate – to reduce what he is designing to the simplest form and then make it work, Isn’t that just like rewriting a song until it’s just right." In The Kennedy Library what was expected to turn heads was a thumping failure, so it compared to an album that should have gone triple platinum but never got out of the slipping cartons
A house I designed for a friend in Cambridge in the early forties was denied a mortgage because it looked modern.
I believe in the continuity of this tradition for it is by no means a relic of the past but a living force that animates and informs the present.
To become art it must be built on a foundation of necessity. Freedom of expression, for me, consists in moving within a measured range that I assign to each of my undertakings. How instructive it is to remember Leonardo da Vinci’s counsel that "strength is born of constraint and dies in freedom.
Architects by design investigate the play of volumes in light, explore the mysteries of movement in space, examine the measure that is scale and proportion, and above all, they search for that special quality that is the spirit of the place as no building exists alone.
The practice of architecture is a collective enterprise, with many individuals of various disciplines and talents working closely together. And from the commissioning to the completion of a project, there are also the many individuals for whom architects work, whose contribution to quality is frequently as crucial as that of the architect.
"the greatest challenge and the greatest accomplishment of my career." - Pei on the completion of glass pyramid.
Pei’s belief helped him withstand the worst trial of his career. He says : "One has to persist, and not give up principles. But there are many ways of persisting, many ways of trying to convince a client to do certain things. There’s a polite way, there’s an impolite way…but that doesn’t mean I’m less insistent, less demanding…not at all. I’m probably as demanding as any creative person. But you have to identify the important things, and then press for them not give up."
Architectural tradition, is a living force that animates the present.
Great luck… being in the right place at the right time.
The pyramid is the geometric shape that encloses the greatest area within the smallest possible volume.
If you are true to yourself, your work will have a signature. And that signature will come out.
About the Kennedy library – "With art you can never predict. You do your good work and hope for the best. This project was a failure. It just couldn’t be" he sighed. "But it made me famous."
In art you have to do that – when you agree with your critics and naysayers, they have no way to come back at you.
There are endless mysteries within discipline; Infinite possibilities exist within a set of rules. It is not an individual act, architecture. You have to consider your client. Only out of that can you produce great architecture. You can’t work in the abstract.
Art is not isolated. It is part of the painting, the sculpture, the ballet of its time.
Pei and his firm have been awarded countless prizes for creating buildings of endless beauty, for bringing together people across the world through his architecture. The memorable ones and top in the hierarchy were the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architecture, Medal of Liberty and Medal of Freedom.
Pei in his acceptance speech, when he won the 1983 International Pritzker Architecture Prize said, "I take particular pleasure in thanking those who conceived the prize, those who have administered it and the distinguished jurors who have seen fit to select me as this year’s recipient.
So I accept this prize for all who have worked with me in this unique undertaking. Let us all be attentive to new ideas, to advancing means, to drawing needs, to impetuses of change so that we may achieve, beyond architectural originality, a harmony of spirit in the service of man."
The Pritzker award landed him with a prize money of $100,000. He established a scholarship fund for Chinese architecture students. He made provision for them to come to the US and avail all benefits and to equip themselves as good architects.
A documentary movie First Person Singular I M Pei was produced on Pei. The legend leads viewers through a kaleidoscope tour of his life’s work. It is a masterpiece by the Lives and Legacies Films, produced by Emmy Award winner Peter Rosen.
The Chinese born American architect frankly discusses the contrasting influences of those who have shaped his career, including real estate tycoon William Zeckendorf, former French President Francois Mitterrand, the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and architects with whom he studied and worked.
Pei discusses his boyhood, his decision to come to the United States to study engineering and his conversion to architecture. He modestly describes his rise to fame and his prize commissions. He speaks about his luck "of being in the right place at the right time."
First Person Singular I M Pei is a personal view of a full life. It is a compelling story of great architectural achievement, intellectual strength and warm humanity.
As a student, he was awarded the MIT Travelling Fellowship, and the Wheelwright Travelling Fellowship at Harvard.
I M Pei and Associates received the 1986 Architectural Firm Award of The American Institute of Architects.
The Arnold Brunner Award from the National Institute of Art and Letters in 1961.
The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Medal for Architecture, in 1976.
The Gold medal of the American Institute of Architects, in 1979.
In 1986, at the 100th anniversary of the Statute of Liberty, President Ronald Raegan designated Pei as one of the 12 naturalized American citizens to receive the Medal of Liberty, for his outstanding service as an architect. Pei considered this award symbolic proof of his acceptance by the American people.
In 1989, the Japan Art Association awarded Pei the Praemium Imperiale for lifetime achievement in Architecture.
In 1990, Pei was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President George Bush for his contribution to the world to architecture alone.
Pei used the $100,000 prize from the Pritzker award to establish a scholarship fund for Chinese architecture students to study in the United States, with the stipulation that the student return to work in China.
