I. M. Pei facts for kids

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I. M. Pei
Ieoh Ming Pei.jpg
Born
Ieoh Ming Pei

(1917-04-26)26 April 1917
Guangzhou (Canton), People's Republic of China
Died 16 May 2019(2019-05-16) (aged 102)
Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Nationality American
Awards AIA Gold Medal

Ieoh Ming Pei (26 April 1917 – 16 May 2019) was a Chinese American architect. Pei was an important name in his field, with his buildings built all over the world. When he was a child, he learned basic knowledge about architecture from his father.

Career

Louvre at night centered
Louvre Pyramid was designed by I.M. Pei

Pei made innovations in architecture, and won the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Medal for Architecture. He built the Allied Bank Tower in Dallas, Texas, as well as the Louvre Pyramid, which is the main entrance to the Louvre Museum in Paris.

In 1983, Pei won the Pritzker Prize.

Death

Pei died in the New York City borough of Manhattan on May 16, 2019, at the age of 102.

Images for kids

  • 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".

  • Frank Lloyd Wright LC-USZ62-36384

    Pei attempted to meet renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright, but gave up after waiting for two hours.

  • 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 2006 photo) as "very much a colonial past".

  • A man wearing a grey sweater and a fedora squats near an open box, holding a small canvas bag.

    Pei said "Bing Crosby's films in particular had a tremendous influence on my choosing the United States instead of England to pursue my education."

  • 131 Ponce de Leon Ave., Atlanta - I.M. Pei building

    Pei's first project (1949) 131 Ponce de Leon Avenue, Atlanta

  • L'Enfant Plaza - IMG 1926

    Pei wanted the open spaces and buildings of L'Enfant Plaza to be "functionally and visually related" to one another.

  • A series of brown boxlike buildings stand 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".

  • A grid of palm trees arranged in a tiled courtyard stands to the right of a dormitory building.

    As with NCAR, Pei combined elements of cubism and natural harmony when designing the dormitories at New College of Florida in the mid-1960s.

  • A white triangular tower rises beside a black glass building, with circular structures on either side.

    Pei considers the John F. Kennedy Library "the most important commission" in his life.

  • A tall beige building with an angled front face, leaning out from the top, is supported by three columns and covered with rows of windows

    Pei wanted his design for Dallas City Hall to "convey an image of the people".

  • Two dark buildings rise into the early evening sky. The tower on the right is spotted with 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".

  • Herbert F. Johnson Museum at Cornell University

    Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University

  • A large grey 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".

  • 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".

  • 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.

  • 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 Jacob K. Javits Convention Center: "The complications exceeded even my expectations."

  • A classical building with ornamental design 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."

  • A grey pyramid 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.

  • A beige cube rises 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.

  • A tall tower coated with reflective glass and steel X patterns rises over trees and smaller buildings.

    Pei felt that his design for the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong needed to reflect "the aspirations of the Chinese people".

  • A grey 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".

  • 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.

  • Centro de Ciência de Macau

    The Macao Science Center in Macau, designed by Pei Partnership Architects in association with I. M. Pei.


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