Essay On Ieoh Ming Pei

DESCRIPTION/SUMMARY: Ieoh Ming Pei, a Chinese American, was one of the most famous architects of modern time. He was famous for his own special style, which is to combine traditional elements with modern designs based on some simple patterns. When he was in college, under the influence of William Emerson, the dean at MIT, he made his interests from engineering to architecture (Boyer 2016). After graduation, he wanted to return China. But because of World War II and post-war revolution, he remained in US and moved to Harvard in 1942. In Harvard, he studied under Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer for six months, which heavily influenced him. In 1948, he was hired by a famous firm Webb and Knapp to serve as architect. Then he got his first job, which was to design the 131 Ponce de Leon Avenue in 1949. Unlike most young architect who just can get

So he was seen as “a living legend” in architectural era (Lacy 2010). And he received many high awards, such as the AIA Gold Metal (1979), Pritzker Prize (1983), and Presidential Medal of Freedom (1992). I.M Pei was not an activist, but he also showed his patriotism by building architectures in China. Because his uses of combination of traditions and modernity with simple patterns changed and started a new future of architect in China. Also he said that he wanted more significant impact in his home country and decided to live in China for his rest of life with his two sons, who also work for Chinese architectures. More importantly, he also had a great influence abroad. His style of combination, which used in Louvre Pyramid, triggered amount of controversy in the late twentieth century. Some people think the modern architecture was out of tune with classical one. But there were also other people considered the Louvre Pyramid as a big success of contrasting the old and the