I.M. Pei is D.2. Mei

For fucking up the Louvre

Didn't realize he was 102.

His work must have been quite striking at the time, but as a transition between Modernism and Post-Modernism it can be seen as lacking the simple elegance of the former and whimsical extravagance of the latter.

Des Moines Art Center

So young.

His interiors were one-note. Put me in an I.M. Pei room, and I will tell you I am in an I.M. Pei room.

WW for OP's adherence to DL tradition and the witty way in which he/she did it. Kudos!

Alternatively it tapped into the worst authoritarian tendencies of both modernism and postmodernism

Everson Museum, Syracuse

Damn, I thought he died a long time ago...

He's lived a long life.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado is proto-PostModern as it recalls the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde.

His most successful work may be the East Building at the National Gallery, a bold but not overwhelming respite from the classical and Victorian historicism of the Mall.

He was a young PUNK! Pfft!

All Pei Wei locations have their flags at half chop stick.

I.M.R.I.P.

Society Hill Towers in Philadelphia, ground breaking urban renewal project. After 50+ years, still a thriving, highly desirable development.

R14 that could be any city in Russia, I don't get it

Pei in the sky!

[quote] I don't get it

And you never will.

I love you, R16.

Maybe so R17. But you sure didn't help.

That's because oh so erudite R17 can't explain why his rectangles are better than all the many others.

I love his design Four Seasons Hotel in NY.

[quote] That's because oh so erudite R17 can't explain why his rectangles are better than all the many others.

I like the shapes that aren’t circles.

Really, r11, are you not going to stop until you bore each and every one of us to death?

Dallas City Hall, an unfortunate lapse into authoritarianism, is regularly used in movies about the future, notably Robocop.

Has anyone asked I.P. Freely for his comment?

ancient man

Pei = "Pay" or "Pie"?

Or "pee"? (Someone made an I.P. Daily joke.)

R27, "pay"

JFK Library

Every goddamn one of his buildings is a dog. Hate the Louvre pyramid but thought I'd come here and find something of beauty like the Lever House.

Shit his work is garbage. In fact it makes the pyramid look good. And he stole it!

[quote] And he stole it!

From the Egyptians?

Hancock Tower Boston. Duck!

Suzhou Museum in china

Hong Kong

Oh god his firm was responsible for that slice and dice Hancock monstrosity as well?

at night.

Morton Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas

R34 that’s gorgeous

The Johnson Art Museum at Cornell, a.k.a. "the sewing machine."

Funny, R39.

Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar, 2008

OP shall henceworth become the official death OP. More! More! More!

[quote]Put me in an I.M. Pei room, and I will tell you I am in an I.M. Pei room.

Well of course! If we put you there, the secret is kinda revealed.

Johnson art museum is a monstrosity but the lobby is lovely

Perfect buildings. That is all.

R31, I was going to say something nasty, but I am gonna shit up.

I do believe that you know very little about architecture, because even if you dislike his work, it can still be studied, scrutinized, dissected, and appreciated.

Good architecture isn’t good, just because you like how it looks.

Society Hill Towers are the least desirable thing about society hill. Admittedly, the area was a slum at the time, but there were two schools of renewal- densification and urbanism, or preservation, as championed in Society Hill by, of all people, Kevin Beacon’s dad.

A true beacon on the hill.

r49, TOTALLY. Philly got some of IM Pei's worst works. admittedly the Society hill towers were an early collaboration of his. but still, they are dogs

The Society Hill Towers were straight out of the midcentury Le Corbusier school of urbanism where Miesian boxes replacing dense city centers was seen as the height of futurism. Ultimately they are pretty unoffensive, especially given the disastrous urban renewal of places like Boston's Government Center.

boston is a shithole

Around the base of the Society Hill Towers are two clusters of Pei designed townhouses that adhere to the scale of neighboring colonial architecture. They were built at the same time as the Towers.

A foodie note. Zahav, housed adjacent to the west Tower just won the James Beard award as best restaurant in the USA.

R52, I love how much you know about buildings and urban design.

I used to be really into this as a kid/teenager. My parents event got me a drafting table/chair, paper, & supplies, because they thought I would take after my uncle, who I hadn’t met at that time because he lived on another continent, and become an architect.

I’d spend hours upon hours leafing through and reading books on architecture, and I’d design homes, landscapes, etc.

I eventually met my uncle when we flew to see the home he had designed and constructed for my father. My father eventually lost the home due to gambling debts and alcoholism, because though he kept both vices at bay while working, he leaned heavily into both, once he retired. And of course, he died not far too long after that.

Total shame. It was a lovely, and well designed, simple house on the coast with an ocean view.

Anyhow, I often regret not staying the course with something that was a such huge passion for me while young.

I appreciate architecture from an art historical and design perspective but I worked in my university's architecture school office in college and the study seemed absolutely soul-crushing. I doubt I could have made it.

Bono's north tower penthouse at the San Remo. He bought it from Steve Jobs who had Pei reconfigure the place.

....

....

R56, yeah. I doubt I would have made it as well.

But remember this: we never believe that we will or won’t “make it”, when we’re young. We have very little, to perhaps no life experience, that leads us to conclude we are not able to achieve something, nor have we been confronted with many limitations. And we don’t evaluate or appreciate risks as we do when we are 30 years old, or 40, and so on.

Most people who get to places in life where others do not, usually do so because they are almost completely belligerent to risk and the concept of failure, while still young and idealistic.

Most of Pei's shit was SHIT. Ugly and no imagination.

R61, yes and I'm sure your works are so much more interesting...NOT!

Let's face it -- he was no Mike Brady.