I. M. Pei

Lore & Background

Pei was born in Guangzhou into a family of scholar-gentry. He drew early inspiration from the garden villas at Suzhou. In 1935, he moved to the United States, studying at the University of Pennsylvania and MIT, where he was influenced by Le Corbusier. He later earned a degree from Harvard's Graduate School of Design, befriending Bauhaus faculty Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer. After working for developer William Zeckendorf, he founded his own firm in 1955.

His first major recognition came with the Mesa Laboratory in Colorado (completed 1967). He went on to design the John F. Kennedy Library, Dallas City Hall, and the East Building of the National Gallery of Art. In the early 1980s, his glass-and-steel pyramid for the Louvre sparked controversy. Later works included the Bank of China Tower, Miho Museum, Suzhou Museum, and Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar. He retired from full-time practice in 1990 but continued as a consultant.

Reader's Guide

Pei's significance lies in his ability to blend modernist principles with cultural and historical contexts, creating buildings that became symbols of their cities. His work, from the Louvre pyramid to the Bank of China Tower, demonstrated a mastery of geometric forms and materials like glass and steel. He won the Pritzker Prize in 1983, often called the Nobel Prize of architecture, as well as the AIA Gold Medal and the first Praemium Imperiale for Architecture. His legacy endures through his firm's continued work and the many iconic structures that define skylines globally.

Did You Know?

• Pei was inspired by the Shizilin Garden in Suzhou, built in the 14th century by a Buddhist monk and owned by his uncle.
• He met his wife, Eileen Loo, while visiting New York City in the late 1930s; she was a Wellesley College student.
• Pei's first major recognition came with the Mesa Laboratory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado.
• He designed the glass-and-steel pyramid for the Louvre in Paris in the early 1980s, which was controversial at the time.