I. M. Pei was a Chinese-American architect. Raised in Shanghai, Pei drew inspiration at an early age from the garden villas at Suzhou, the traditional retreat of the scholar-gentry to which his family belonged.

1. IEOH MING PEI (April 26, 1917-May 16, 2019)
Born in Suzhou, China, in
1917, Ieoh Ming Pei came to
US at the age of 17 to study
architecture. He received a
bachelor’s degree from MIT in
1940 and a master’s in 1946
from the Harvard Graduate
School of Design, where he
remained as an assistant
professor until 1948.
In 1955, with his colleagues
Mr. Pei formed I. M. Pei &
Associates (later I. M. Pei &
Partners in 1966 and Cobb
Freed & Partners in 1989). In
its six-decade history, the firm
has done most well-known
work. When he received
his Pritzker Prize in 1983, the
jury citation stated that “he
has given this century some of
its most beautiful interior
spaces and exterior forms." In
1990, Pei retired from full-
time practice and started
working as an architectural
consultant.
As inspired from Le Corbusier and modernist
architecture, I.M. Pei took the core belief of
modernism that form follows function, and added
his own interpretation, "form follows intention"
which incorporates function. This philosophy
reflects in his work by incorporation of functional
symbols.
I.M. Pei also rejects the Internationalist vision of
architecture as future vs. past, and instead sees his role
as creating a bridge between the present and past.
These core beliefs explain how Pei designs a wide
variety of structures that are all consistent to his
vision.
“Life is architecture & architecture is
mirror of life.”
I. M. Pei style mostly include abstract form and materials
such as stone, concrete, glass & steel. He designs
sophisticated glass clad buildings loosely related to the high-
tech movement. He frequently works on a large scale and is
renowned for his sharp, simple geometric designs

2. MUSEUM OF ISLAMIC ART, DOHA (2008)
This was the last cultural building designed by Pei. As an avid collector of
Western Abstract Expressionist art, Pei saw this as an opportunity to learn
more about Islamic culture. The museum was built in a unique stacked-box
design and with 376,740 sq. ft. area and composed of a 5 storey minimalist
building and a 2 storey education wing with the geometric patterns and
aesthetic details of the Islamic architecture sits on a man-made island
in Doha harbor. From outside, the shape of the building is monolithic,
introverted, strong yet complex. However from the interior it is hollow, and
have a geometric skylight with a stainless steel domed ceiling above the grand
staircase. The building’s materiality is one of blending in and of
contrast. Museum with natural stone color will blend right into the
surrounding of Doha contrasting with the strong, lively blue of the Arabian
Gulf making museum stand out.
I.M. Pei was requested to create an unavoidably
tall unique headquarters in a typhoon-prone
region that would represent the aspirations of
the Chinese people. In response, Pei designed a
tall and dynamic tower, inspiring from bamboo,
that would take advantage of the surrounding
views while being robust enough to withstand a
typhoon representing successful integration of
structure and form to meet the needs of both
client and city. The solution was an
asymmetrical tower that informs both skyline
and street. The Bank of China Tower stands 70
stories tall, reaching a height of 1,209 feet.
Comprised of four vertical shafts, the tower
emerges from a 52-meter cube and reduces its
mass, quadrant by quadrant, until a single
triangular prism resides. The four shafts from
which the building produce a modern composite
structural system resists high-velocity winds
and need less internal vertical supports, cladded
in reflective glass that mirrors the changing sky.
BANK OF CHINA TOWER (1990)

3. LOUVRE PYRAMID, PARIS (1989)
The expansion and modernization of the historic Louvre, originally
a royal palace, its three wings were physically disconnected from
one another. Pei connected the wings by structure, which was
constructed entirely with glass segments, 20.6 m high with a square
base of 35 m, consists of 603 rhombus-shaped and 70 triangular
glass segments. To minimize the impact of the structure, Pei
demanded a method of glass production that resulted in clear
panes. The sleek metal and glass structure is a functional symbol
that simultaneously fulfills the needs of the Louvre. The pyramid's
modern structure complements the historic Louvre in a
harmonious contrast. Pei commented on the pyramid, “If there’s
one thing I know I didn’t do wrong, it’s the Louvre.”
Pei’s first-ever museum changed and rejected the traditional notion that
a museum needed to be a monumental container for art and decided it
ought to be a sculptural work of art in itself, setting a high standard for
museum designs that came afterward. Pei conceived the contemporary
style Everson as an open structure with access to its interior from all of
its exposed sides. The building is primarily comprised of 4 opaque
concrete volumes that contains galleries of differing size and height
with a cantilevered second storey that when viewed from outside gives
added hierarchy to the overall assemblage of forms that makeup the
museum. The sculptural ambition of the building is also evident in the
way in which the concrete is finished with a striated chiseled look
displaying crafted like artifacts that inhabit it.
EVERSON MUSEUM OF ARTS,
SYRACUSE (1968)