Globally acclaimed architect I.M. Pei dies, aged 102

World Today

The globally acclaimed architect I.M. Pei has died. He was 102-years-old.

Born Ieoh Ming Pei in China, he later moved to the United States and established a 60-year career, designing some of the world’s most recognizable buildings.

CGTN’s Gerald Tan takes a look at his legacy.

I.M. Pei believed in the beauty of simplicity. His designs relied on geometric shapes – circles, triangles and squares. Subtle yet lyrical.

From the Suzhou Museum in China to the New Wing of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, his vision has defined dozens of unforgettable structures of the 20th and 21st centuries.

He grew up in Hong Kong and Shanghai before moving to the United States to study architecture. Degrees from MIT and Harvard followed.

In 1955, he founded his own practice. It marked the beginning of an illustrious, transcontinental career spanning six-decades:

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong and its Headquarters in Beijing
The Miho Museum in Kyoto, Japan

Yet Pei is perhaps most renowned as the force behind the glass and metal pyramid which serves as the main entrance of the Louvre in Paris.

A hallmark of Pei’s architectural tenet — modernism that never neglects history.

After announcing his retirement, Pei continued to consult on projects and worked well into his 90s.

Notable commissions in his later career include the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar and the Macao Science Center.

When Pei won one of architecture’s highest honors, The Pritzker Prize, the jury stated that he has given the world “some of its most beautiful interior spaces and exterior forms.”

Spaces that serve as monuments to the memory and genius of I.M. Pei.


Stefan Al on the impact of I.M. Pei on the architecture world

CGTN’s Elaine Reyes spoke with Stefan Al, an architect and urban designer, for more on the impact and legacy that I.M. Pei leaves behind.