Legendaryl architect I.M. Pei dies at age 102
17/05/2019.
[NYC] USA
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
Chinese American architect I.M. Pei died early Thursday, at the age 102, at his home in Manhattan, USA.
Ieoh Ming Pei's extraordinary career, spanning seven decades, makes difficult to say for which of his buildings he is best known. Pei won a host of awards for his work, including the Royal Gold Medal, the AIA Gold Medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Praemium Imperiale and the 1983 Pritzker Prize.
Ieoh Ming Pei's extraordinary career, spanning seven decades, makes difficult to say for which of his buildings he is best known. Pei won a host of awards for his work, including the Royal Gold Medal, the AIA Gold Medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Praemium Imperiale and the 1983 Pritzker Prize.
Le Grand Louvre, Paris, France, 1989
I.M. Pei in 1979 © Estate of Yousuf Karsh; image via the Smithsonian Institute
Grand Louvre - Phase I, 2017 Twenty-five Year Award. Photography © Koji Horiuchi.
Grand Louvre - Phase I, 2017 Twenty-five Year Award. Photography © Koji Horiuchi.
I.M. Pei in 2017. Image Courtesy Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.
National Gallery of Art, East Building, Washington, DC, 1968-78, by I.M.Pei. Image Courtesy Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.
National Gallery of Art, East Building, Washington, DC, 1968-78, by I.M.Pei. Image Courtesy Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.
Bank of China Building in Hong Kong by I.M.Pei. 2010. Image Courtesy Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.
Bank of China Building in Hong Kong by I.M.Pei. 2010.
Bank of China at night by I.M.Pei. 16 November 2005.
Everyone Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York, 1961-1968 by I.M.Pei. Image Courtesy Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.
Everyone Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York, 1961-1968 by I.M.Pei. Image Courtesy Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.
Everyone Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York, 1961-1968 by I.M.Pei. Image Courtesy Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.
I.M.Pei, Photograph by John Loengard. Pei, born in Guangzhou (China) in 1917 and the son of a prominent banker, graduated from Harvard at the end of the 1940s
herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell university, Ithaca, New York, 1968-1973, by I.M.Pei
I.M.Pei in the Grand Louvre Modernization, 2018. Courtesy of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.
Best known for designing the East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington. Pei’s buildings range from office towers to art museums to civic structures, and his distinct style evolved over time.
From, awesome projects as the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, completed in 1990, to his controversial addition to the Louvre, completed in 1989 which was greeted with hostility as a Modernist affront when it was first proposed as the main entrance to Paris’ Musée du Louvre, this 22-meter-high glass and stainless steel pyramid designed by I.M. Pei, FAIA, now rivals the Eiffel Tower as one of France’s most recognizable architectural icons.
I.M. Pei born in Guangzhou (China) in 1917, son of a prominent banker, was one of the few architects who were equally attractive to real estate developers, corporate chieftains and art museum boards, Mr Pei is considered one of the great masters of architecture.
He formed his own studio, I.M. Pei & Associates, in 1955. His first projects were mainly for William Zeckendorf, feared real estate developer responsible for much of the urban landscape of New York, for whom he began working to big scale in 1948, shortly after graduating from Harvard.
Design of museums, social housing, auditoriums, office towers, administrative buildings, hospitals and airports (JFK of New York). In 1964, he was chosen by Jacqueline Kennedy to design the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston.
Pei, who was born in China and moved to the United States in the 1930s and ended up signing his most surprising assignment for an icon of something as genuinely American as rock and roll. His building at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, designed what amounted to a large glass tent in 1995. Abstract expressionism was one of his passions, from which he collected numerous pieces. Its last museum was the Islamic Art of Doha (Qatar), which ended in 2008.
From, awesome projects as the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, completed in 1990, to his controversial addition to the Louvre, completed in 1989 which was greeted with hostility as a Modernist affront when it was first proposed as the main entrance to Paris’ Musée du Louvre, this 22-meter-high glass and stainless steel pyramid designed by I.M. Pei, FAIA, now rivals the Eiffel Tower as one of France’s most recognizable architectural icons.
I.M. Pei born in Guangzhou (China) in 1917, son of a prominent banker, was one of the few architects who were equally attractive to real estate developers, corporate chieftains and art museum boards, Mr Pei is considered one of the great masters of architecture.
He formed his own studio, I.M. Pei & Associates, in 1955. His first projects were mainly for William Zeckendorf, feared real estate developer responsible for much of the urban landscape of New York, for whom he began working to big scale in 1948, shortly after graduating from Harvard.
Design of museums, social housing, auditoriums, office towers, administrative buildings, hospitals and airports (JFK of New York). In 1964, he was chosen by Jacqueline Kennedy to design the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston.
Pei, who was born in China and moved to the United States in the 1930s and ended up signing his most surprising assignment for an icon of something as genuinely American as rock and roll. His building at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, designed what amounted to a large glass tent in 1995. Abstract expressionism was one of his passions, from which he collected numerous pieces. Its last museum was the Islamic Art of Doha (Qatar), which ended in 2008.
When Mr. Pei was invited to design the East Building of the National Gallery of Art, he had the opportunity to demonstrate his belief that modernism was capable of producing buildings with the gravitas, the sense of permanence and the popular appeal of the greatest traditional structures. When the building opened in 1978, Ada Louise Huxtable, the senior architecture critic of The New York Times, hailed it as the most important building of the era, and she called Mr. Pei, at least by implication, the pre-eminent architect of the time.
Paul Goldberger
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Ieoh Ming Pei
I.M. Pei was born in China on April 26, 1917, in Canton, Guangzhou, China. When he was 17 years old, he traveled to the United States, initially attending the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia before transferring to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned a bachelor's degree in architecture in 1940.
Pei soon continued his studies at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design, where he had the opportunity to study with German architect and founder of the Bauhaus design movement Walter Gropius. During World War II, Pei took a break from his education to work for the National Defense Research Committee. In 1944, he returned to Harvard and earned his master's degree in architecture two years later. Around this time, Pei also worked as an assistant professor at the university.
In 1948, Pei joined the New York-based architectural firm Webb & Knapp, Inc., as its director of architecture. In 1955 he left to start his firm, I. M. Pei & Associates (now known as Pei Cobb Freed & Partners). One of his first major projects was the Mile High Center in Denver, Colorado. Pei also devised several urban renewal plans for areas of Washington, D.C., Boston, and Philadelphia around this time.
In the years following the death of President John F. Kennedy, Pei met with his widow, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, on the designs for his presidential library. The project, built in Dorchester, Massachusetts, met several challenges over the years, including a location change. Completed in 1979, the library is a nine-story modern structure that features glass and concrete. Pei also designed a later addition to the site.
Following the dedication of the Kennedy Library, Pei continued to create wondrous buildings around the world, including the west wing of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (1980) and the Fragrant Hill Hotel in China (1983). In 1983, he was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize for his contributions to his field. In their official announcement, the committee recognized his ability to "draw together disparate people and disciplines to create a harmonious environment." Pei used his prize money to create a scholarship for Chinese students to study architecture in the United States.
During this time, Pei also began work on revitalizing Paris's Louvre museum. The new, and controversial, entrance he created for the world-famous structure has since become one of the most iconic representations of his work. Pei had visitors descend into the museum through a large glass pyramid, which took them to a new level below the existing courtyard.
Pei continued to design impressive buildings during the 1990s, including the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.
Pei soon continued his studies at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design, where he had the opportunity to study with German architect and founder of the Bauhaus design movement Walter Gropius. During World War II, Pei took a break from his education to work for the National Defense Research Committee. In 1944, he returned to Harvard and earned his master's degree in architecture two years later. Around this time, Pei also worked as an assistant professor at the university.
In 1948, Pei joined the New York-based architectural firm Webb & Knapp, Inc., as its director of architecture. In 1955 he left to start his firm, I. M. Pei & Associates (now known as Pei Cobb Freed & Partners). One of his first major projects was the Mile High Center in Denver, Colorado. Pei also devised several urban renewal plans for areas of Washington, D.C., Boston, and Philadelphia around this time.
In the years following the death of President John F. Kennedy, Pei met with his widow, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, on the designs for his presidential library. The project, built in Dorchester, Massachusetts, met several challenges over the years, including a location change. Completed in 1979, the library is a nine-story modern structure that features glass and concrete. Pei also designed a later addition to the site.
Following the dedication of the Kennedy Library, Pei continued to create wondrous buildings around the world, including the west wing of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (1980) and the Fragrant Hill Hotel in China (1983). In 1983, he was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize for his contributions to his field. In their official announcement, the committee recognized his ability to "draw together disparate people and disciplines to create a harmonious environment." Pei used his prize money to create a scholarship for Chinese students to study architecture in the United States.
During this time, Pei also began work on revitalizing Paris's Louvre museum. The new, and controversial, entrance he created for the world-famous structure has since become one of the most iconic representations of his work. Pei had visitors descend into the museum through a large glass pyramid, which took them to a new level below the existing courtyard.
Pei continued to design impressive buildings during the 1990s, including the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.
