Ieoh Ming Pei  貝聿銘 pinyin Bèi Yùmíng

1917

Ieoh Ming Pei  貝聿銘 (1917 - 2019) known as I.M. Pei, was born on April 26,

in a Chinese family,  in  Guangzhou  China.

His father headed the Bank of China in Hong Kong.

1927

The family, made up of five children, settled in Shanghai.

1934

His passion for architecture and American films led him to the United States,

where he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania and learned the science

and technique of construction.

1935

He began studying at MIT ( Massachusetts Institute of Technology ).Cambridge

Le Corbusier's visit to his school inspired him to discover emerging architects.

1940

1942

He married Eileen loo (1942-2014),  a student he met in New York, enrolled

in the landscape architecture program at Harvard University.

He worked for two and a half years with a unit of the National Defense

Research Committee, during the World War II.

1945-1948

with the Bauhaus members whose modern vision of Architecture he admired :

Walter Gropius (1883 -1969) and Marcel Breuer (1902 -1981).

1948

Recruited by the New York real estate developer William Zeckendorf, he worked

1954

Became a U.S. he returned to China, only to design an hotel at  Flagrant Hil

1955

He established his independent firm :  IM Pei & Associates with Henry N Cobb and Easy H

Leonard, renamed  IM Pei & Partners ( 1966 ) and Pei Cobb Freed & Partners ( 1989 ).

He managed it until 1990 then became a consultant for the firm of two of his sons :

Pei Partners architects.

1978

Became a U.S. citizen, he returned to China, only to design an hotel at  Flagrant Hill,

in Beijing.

2019

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Achievements selection

1963

1967

  -  Mesa Laboratory -  a spaced-out series of buildings, joined by lower structures and  

two underground levels.

1968

1978

  -  The National Gallery Building Washington  -  in collaboration with William Pedersen

and Yann Weymouth

1979

  -  The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum  Boston

After the abandonment of the Cambridge site, and his idea of a glass pyramid, he chose

a square glass atrium with a triangular tower and circular walkway for Columbia Point.

1987

1989

inaugurated on October 14, this pyramidal shape (reminiscent of ancient Egypt and

the Concorde obelisk), which he judged most appropriate for the architecture

of the Louvre, was far from unanimously approved by the public. So he had to install

a life-size model to gain acceptance.

1988

interior spaces of the Chinese section

2002

  - EDF Tower la Défense  Paris  

41 storeys - façade clad in alternating bands of stainless steel and slightly glass panels.

de verre légèrement réfléchissants.

With a top wider than its base,a main entrance surmounted by a circular canopy 24 m

in diameter, centered on the Grande Arche.

With 325 rooms and a four-storey central atrium - surrounded by greenery - the hotel

blends perfectly into the landscape. the hotel blends perfectly into the landscape.

1990

Reflective glass walls with visible latticework - Sloping roof to increase the building's

verticality  - designed to withstand the violence of typhoon.

  -  The tallest building in Hong Kong and Asia from 1989 to 1992

2006

  -  Suzhou Museum    Suzhou  - Inspired by traditional construction: lime walls, gray tile

roof, including a South China garden in the landscape.

2009

Asymmetrical in shape, with a spiral walkway leading to galleries and a large atrium

the building occupies a prominent position on the seafront.

1997

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