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I. M. Pei Biography

Ieoh Ming Pei, FAIA, RIBA (born 26 April 1917), commonly known as I. M. Pei, is a Chinese American architect. Born in Guangzhou and raised in Hong Kong and Shanghai, Pei drew inspiration at an early age from the gardens at Suzhou. In 1935, he moved to the United States and enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania's architecture school, but quickly transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was unhappy with the focus at both schools on Beaux-Arts architecture, and spent his free time researching emerging architects, especially Le Corbusier. After graduating, he joined the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) and became a friend of the Bauhaus architects Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer. In 1948, Pei was recruited by New York City real estate magnate William Zeckendorf. There he spent seven years before establishing his own independent design firm I. M. Pei & Associates in 1955, which became I. M. Pei & Partners in 1966 and later in 1989 became Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. Pei retired from full-time practice in 1990. Since then, he has taken on work as an architectural consultant primarily from his sons' architectural firm Pei Partnership Architects.

Read about I. M. Pei in Wikipedia

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I. M. Pei Quotes

I didn't want to think about a project that I couldn't finish. That's a kind of temptation. One has to realize one's limitations. Why kid yourself?

Finish, Kids, Limitations, Realize, Temptation, Thinking

Be the best, not necessarily the original.

Being The Best, Original, Originals

Many of the projects I'm most proud of are tall buildings, especially the housing projects. In New York I have two: one in Kips Bay and one at New York University. At that time, those projects were most challenging.

Challenges, Kips, New York, Tall, Time, Two

Great artists need great clients.

Artist, Artists, Clients, Needs

My projects have typically taken a long time to complete. Buildings might take on average about five to seven years to finish, but in my case it's been longer, because the projects I have accepted within the past 15 years have been mostly government projects, and those involve some politics and funding issues, and approvals and so forth. So they're slower.

Accepted, Finish, Issues, Past, Taken, Years

At the beginning, I thought the best Islamic work was in Spain - the mosque in Cordoba, the Alhambra in Granada. But as I learned more, my ideas shifted. I traveled to Egypt, and to the Middle East many times. I found the most wonderful examples of Islamic work in Cairo, it turns out. I'd visited mosques there before, but I didn't see them with the same eye as I did this time. They truly said something to me about Islamic architecture.

Egypt, Eye, Islamic, Middle, Mosque, Shifted

I haven't taken any new projects in the past years - I told myself, if I cannot live long enough to finish it, I don't want it.

Enough, Long, Past, Taken, Told, Years

I believe that architecture is a pragmatic art. To become art it must be built on a foundation of necessity.

Art, Believe, Built, Foundation

It is not an individual act, architecture. You have to consider your client. Only out of that can you produce great architecture. You cannot work in the abstract

Architecture, Client, Clients, Individual

François Mitterrand was a student of architecture, he had done a lot of research before he called me. He said, "You did something special at the National Gallery of Art in Washington - you brought the new and the old together. " But John Russell Pope finished the West Building in 1941, so when the East Building opened it was only about 40 years old. But the Louvre is 800 years old! A much bigger design challenge.

800, Art, Building, Design, Student, Years

When I got the opportunity to do the new wing [the Schauhaus] for the German Historical Museum, for instance, I didn't see it as an opportunity for my own ego, to do something so exciting that every architectural publication would want to put it on the cover. I accepted it because I knew it was going to be a very difficult project, and I wasn't sure I could do something exciting there.

Exciting, Historical, Museums, Opportunity, Wing, Wings

At home, I have a wife, fortunately, and my children are all grown, and I have many grandchildren. I spend weekends with my grandchildren; I adore them.

Adore, Children, Home, Weekend, Weekends, Wife

I travel to the Middle East, I travel to China, I travel to Europe. It's all very rewarding - the only problem is the travel is getting more and more difficult for me now. Ten years ago I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

Difficult, Europe, Middle East, Rewarding, Years

I know something about the civilization of China, with my background, obviously, and I think I know something about American history. But that's about all. And I've traveled all over the world, and for a long time I didn't know very much about it, really.

Civilization, Know, Long, Thinking, World

You cannot defend your design without knowing what you're designing for.

Defend, Design, Designing, Knowing

Architecture is the very mirror of life. You only have to cast your eyes on buildings to feel the presence of the past, the spirit of a place; they are the reflection of society.

Cast, Eye, Life, Presence, Reflection

For Kips Bay, I had a wonderful client, William Zeckendorf, who was willing to gamble with me on using concrete and not brick for a high-rise apartment building. That was very innovative at the time.

Bricks, Clients, Kips, Time, Willing, Wonderful

Let's do it right. This is for the ages.

Age, Ages, Right

Design is something you have to put your hand to.

Design, Hand, Hands

Life is architecture and architecture is the mirror of life.

Architecture, Life, Life Is, Mirror, Mirrors

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