Ieoh Ming Pei was born in Guangzhou on April 26, 1917. In 1918, his father became the general manager of the Hong Kong Branch of the Bank of China, and Pei spent his childhood in Hong Kong. In 1927, his father was transferred and the family moved to Shanghai. In junior high school, he attended the Shanghai YMCA Middle School. In high school, he graduated from the High School Affiliated to St. John's University. Later, he studied at the University of Pennsylvania. Because he thought he had no talent for drawing, he transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. Bei immersed himself in the library and worked hard to absorb Regarding information related to modern European architecture, Le Corbusier's works were his favorite. The sculptural nature of Pei's future works was deeply influenced by Le Corbusier. Graduated in 1939.
The Chinese-American Mr. Pei, together with the French-Chinese painter Zao Wou-Ki and the Chinese-American composer Zhou Wenzhong, are known as the "Three Art Treasures" of overseas Chinese. Some people may say that architecture is science, why is it juxtaposed with art? But people in the world of architecture know that I.M. Pei was not only an outstanding architectural scientist who built many gorgeous palaces "with a pen and ruler"; he was also an extremely idealistic architectural artist who was good at combining ancient traditional architectural art with modern The latest technology is melted into one furnace to create your own unique style. Pei himself said: "Although architecture and art are different, they are essentially the same. My goal is to seek the harmonious unity of the two." Facts have proved that the persistent pursuit of architectural art is an important aspect of his career success. .
Ieoh Ming Pei was born in Guangzhou on April 26, 1917. His ancestors were from a prominent family in Suzhou. His father, Pei Zuyi, was once the president of the Bank of China. He went to Hong Kong to establish the Hong Kong Branch of the Bank of China. Therefore, Pei spent his childhood in Hong Kong and studied at St. Paul's Primary School. After 1927, he returned to Shanghai to attend middle school and later studied at Shanghai St. John's University. In 1935, he traveled across the ocean to study in the United States. His father originally wanted him to study finance in the UK, but he did not follow his father's orders. Instead, he followed his own interests and entered the Pennsylvania State University in the United States to study architecture.
Why he is interested in architecture is accidental. When he was studying in Shanghai, he often went to a billiards hall to play billiards on weekends. A hotel, the tallest in Shanghai at the time, was being built near the billiards hall. This aroused his curiosity: How could people have the ability to build such a tall building, and thus he came up with the ideal of studying architecture.
But the University of Pennsylvania’s teaching method of using pictures to explain classical architectural theory greatly disappointed I.M. Pei. He transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduated with honors in 1939, and won an award from the American Institute of Architects. After the outbreak of World War II, he served in the U.S. Air Force for three years, retired in 1944, and entered Harvard University to study for a master's degree. After graduating in 1945, he stayed at the school and was employed as an assistant professor at the Institute of Design.
Ieoh Ming Pei entered the practical field of architecture from the purely academic ivory tower in 1948. This year, William Zeigendorf, a visionary and ambitious real estate development businessman in New York City, broke with the conventions of the American architectural community and hired Chinese I.M. Pei as an architect for the first time to serve as the architect of the Weber Knapp Architectural Company he founded. Director of Research Department. Zeigendorff and I.M. Pei, one is an experienced, eloquent, and extremely smart real estate construction businessman, and the other is an architect with academic expertise and great creativity. The two of them work together and complement each other, making them an ideal career partner. They worked together for twelve years. In the past twelve years, Pei completed the design of many commercial and residential complexes for Zeigendorff's real estate company, as well as many social reconstruction plans. During this period, Pei also designed a science building for his alma mater, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and two faculty residential buildings for New York University. All of this enabled I.M. Pei to emerge in the American architectural world and laid the foundation for his career in the following decades.
In 1960, I.M. Pei left Zeigendorff and set up his own construction company.
What is most praised in his architectural design is that he cares about the interests of the common people. He designed many popular apartments in New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Chicago that were both architecturally beautiful and affordable. The three-story social apartments he designed in Philadelphia were very popular among working-class people. Therefore, Rice University in Philadelphia awarded him the honorable title of "People's Architect" in 1963. In the same year, the American Institute of Architecture awarded him the New York Honor Award. The Washington Post called his architectural design an urban plan that truly serves the people.
As his construction company's business was booming, his focus gradually shifted from urban renovation and reconstruction plans to the design of giant public buildings. The "National Atmospheric Research Center" built in the mountains of Colorado in the 1960s can be said to be the beginning of his engagement in public building design. The "Centre" was built in 1961 and completed in 1967. Its appearance is simple and strong, and its tower-like roof makes the building itself resemble a towering mountain, harmonizing with the surrounding environment. The American "Newsweek" once published a photo of it and called I.M. Pei's design a "breakthrough design."
There are shadows of Mies in Pei's early works, but unlike Mies, he used glass as the main building material. Pei used concrete, such as the Franklin National Bank in New York, the Town Center Plaza Residential Area, and the Hawaii East-West Cultural Center. . In the middle period, after years of experience and experience, Pei Shi fully mastered the properties of concrete, and his works tended to have a sense of Kirby's Italian sculpture. Among them, the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the Dallas City Hall are among the classics in this area. do. The Kennedy Memorial Library was the starting point for Beth's departure from the Miesian style. The geometric plane replaced the regular square box and transformed into a sculptural shape. Later, he had the opportunity to work as the exclusive architect of Qishiwei Nai Company and engage in large-scale urban construction projects. From these development projects, Pei gained valuable experience in land use, which made his architectural design not only consider the building itself, but also Concerns about the environment were raised to the level of urban design, focusing on creating a sense of community and community space. The most popular one is undoubtedly the Society Ridge residential community in Philadelphia, and the projects they accepted were mainly office buildings and residential buildings. Pei later After obtaining an agreement from the Qi Group, the architectural department was reorganized into I.M. Pei Architects in 1955 and began to practice independently. The firm has engaged in 114 design cases, of which 66 were handled by Pei.
Architecture integrates the concept of natural space, which dominates Bei's lifetime works, such as the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the Iverson Museum of Art, the Sculpture Gallery of the Demoy Art Center, and the Jiangson Museum of Art at Cornell University, etc. . The most common feature of these works is the inner courtyard, which connects the inner and outer spaces and integrates nature into the architecture. In the late period, the inner court was still one of the indispensable elements in Pei's works. The curtain technique focused more on the input of natural light, making the inner court a light court, such as the Changchun Hall of the Fragrant Hill Hotel and the entrance hall of the IBM Corporation in Amenko, New York. The atrium of the Bank of China in Hong Kong, the Guggenheim Pavilion of Sinai Hospital in New York, the glass pyramid of the Louvre in Paris and the Creative Artist Economic Center in Beverly Hills, etc. The combination of light and space makes the space changeable. "Let light do the design" is Pei's famous saying.
As a master of modernist architecture, Pei's buildings have always adhered to the tradition of modern architecture for more than 40 years. Pei firmly believes that architecture is not a fashion, and it is impossible to change tricks all the time to win favor. Architecture is A great cause for a long time, we must be responsible for social history. He continues to research and explore form, space, building materials and technology to make his works more diverse and better. He never defends his designs, and never writes his own interpretations of the concepts of his works. He believes that the building itself is the best statement. The important awards that Pei has received include the 1979 American Architectural Institute Gold Medal, the 1981 French Gold Medal of Architecture, the 1989 Japanese Emperor's Prize, the 1983 Fifth Pritzker Prize, and the Freedom Award from President Reagan in 2006. Medals and more.