Ieoh Ming Pei
Should I have heard of him? Yes, but if you haven't you will certainly have marvelled at his work. He's the architect responsible for Hong Kong's spectacular Bank of China building, completed in 1989, and for the audacious Pyramide du Louvre in Paris finished the same year. An ambitious project backed by president Francois Mitterand, the glass pyramid at the entrance to the Louvre sparked huge controversy. Those who argued the museum's classical style was sacred and untouchable fiercely opposed it. It is testimony to Pei's bravery and brilliance that he managed to unite new and old with a structure that is widely acknowledged to be an example of modernism at its finest and most elegant.
He's not a man afraid to take risks then? Pei is a pioneer. He achieved a similar coup in 1982 with the completion of the Fragrant Hills hotel in Beijing. Feted today as the perfect combination of traditional Chinese courtyards and modern western living, Pei designed the hotel with respect for the country's cultural heritage while creating a new, distinctly Chinese architectural style.
How does Pei define architecture? In his own words: 'I believe architecture is a pragmatic art. To become art it must be built on a foundation of necessity ... It is easy to say the art of architecture is everything, but how difficult it is to introduce the conscious intervention of an artistic imagination without straying from the context of life.'
Fine words or a personal creed? True to his words, Pei has been concerned with the surroundings of his buildings and is passionately committed to creating useful and beautiful public spaces. He has designed a multitude of schools, churches, municipal facilities, hospitals and libraries. He is also credited with playing a leading role in transforming the traditional museum from a private retreat for the elite into a popular cultural, educational and social institution at the centre of modern life.
What's his background? He was born in Canton in 1917 and went to the United States when he was 17 to study architecture. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology followed by Harvard Graduate School. He became a naturalised US citizen in 1954, and set up I. M. Pei & Associates in New York in 1958, which became Pei Cobb Freed & Partners in 1989. His big break came in 1964, when former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy chose him to design the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston. National recognition and many significant projects followed, including the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado (1967), the Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation Centre (1976) and Raffles City (1986), both in Singapore, the Dallas City Hall in Texas (1977) and the East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington (1979), which was chosen by the American Institute of Architects as one of the 10 best buildings in the United States.
That's quite an accolade. It is, but Pei is no stranger to awards. His many honours include the Gold Medal from the American Institute of Architects, the Gold Medal for Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, La Grande Medaille d'Or from l'Academie d'Architecture (France), and the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate in 1983. Pei used the US$100,000 prize to establish a scholarship fund for Chinese architects to study in the US, with the strict proviso they returned to the mainland to practise.
What's he doing now? Pei retired in 1990, but continues to work as design principal on a number of projects with Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. His legacy to architecture is summed up best in his Pritzker acceptance speech, in which he stated: 'Let us all be attentive to new ideas, to advancing means, to dawning needs, to impetuses of change so that we may achieve, beyond architectural originality, a harmony of spirit in the service of man.'
