7 ms·

I.M. Pei has died

275 points by SREinSF 7y ago

josh2600 7y ago
I.M. Pei's architecture is beautiful, geodesic structure in the best possible sense. 102 is also a ripe old age (although far be it from me to say what is a fair time on this earth). Architecture is wonderful as you get to live on through these incredibly beautiful buildings. I look at the stuff Zaha Hadid built and I feel like I can almost see her in the buildings she made. Great architects resonate through their structures. RIP.
- mattzito 7y ago
  I mean - SOME of it is beautiful. I have to stare at this building every day: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kips_Bay_Towers https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kips_Bay_Towers It’s plain hideous. Sigh.
  - spectramax 7y ago
    I rather found it beautiful. Brutalist architecture has its own beauty - to be honest about materials, unapologetic forms and it’s unwavering stability. Also, I’ve been to the Dallas City hall and it is such an insane building, imposing and looming over you as you enter through its facade.
    - rjeli 7y ago
      I don’t really like most brutalism but Dallas city hall is one of my favorite buildings. You might recognize it from Robocop
      - pavel_lishin 7y ago
        Oh man, turns out Dallas has four I.M. Pei buildings! Fountain Place, at least, seems to be as close to objectively cool as possible: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_Place https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_Place
    - abvdasker 7y ago
      In particular the interiors of brutalist structures don't get enough appreciation. Boston City Hall — not done by Pei — stands out in that the exterior is quite ugly but the interior is utilitarian and soothingly cavernous. Unrelatedly, my grandfather lived in one of the Kips Bay Towers during the 70s when he was working in New York as a graphic designer. I have a soft spot for them.
      - fatnoah 7y ago
        >In particular the interiors of brutalist structures don't get enough appreciation. Boston City Hall — not done by Pei — stands out in that the exterior is quite ugly but the interior is utilitarian and soothingly cavernous. As a resident of Boston who's had to travel to city hall many times on Business, I wouldn't call the interior "soothingly cavernous". Perhaps it was initially and has been modified since, but I find it dark sized to make both the visitor and the worker insignificant. Most open space is unusable and appears to have no purpose, but the spaces that are in-use, are somehow cramped and lifeless.
    - fsloth 7y ago
      I strongly disagree. I feel that honesty about materials is bullshit. It's like saying painting should look like paint on canvas and not like mona lisa. This is one of the things the greek - again - got right. Lot of the elements in classical architecture of stone buildings are there just to look nice and some of them even just copy elements that were necessary in wooden construction but were replicated in stone as well because they look nice. That's not to say simple shapes cannot be pleasing. But making concrete look like concrete really isn't an achievement to speak off. It can be a stylistic choice of course.
      - deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
  - adamson 7y ago
    Wow, I've walked by that block so many times and never would have guessed it was the work of IM Pei
  - Hoasi 7y ago
    > I have to stare at this building every day: I like Manuel Gagneux's commentary on the Kips Bay Plaza: https://youtu.be/08GChbQcWxI?t=164 https://youtu.be/08GChbQcWxI?t=164. That's an interesting and somehow comforting way to look at it.
based2 7y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I._M._Pei https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I._M._Pei
oceliker 7y ago
I know him through the buildings he designed at MIT: Buildings 54, 66, and E15. My favorite fun fact to tell visitors is that building 66 (chemical engineering) is a perfect 30-60-90 triangle.
- akulkarni 7y ago
  And has a mini 30/60/90 triangle on its basement floor!
  - oceliker 7y ago
    I had no idea! Will go check it out tomorrow.
- joebergeron 7y ago
  Woah, I had no idea he designed the Green Building. It was always my favorite architecture on campus (light years better than the Stata Center), much to the disagreement of my peers.
  - frob 7y ago
    The Green Building definitely had the better view. Plus it was understandable. I often got lost in Stata above the first floor.
  - intuitionist 7y ago
    The Green Building is quite nice in most ways, but there's also the famous story about how it was built "on stilts" parallel to the Charles, so because of the wind coming off the river nobody could open the doors... The legend about how the nearby Alexander Calder sculpture was placed to block the wind is apparently untrue, but the revolving doors on the ground level are very real.
    - ghaff 7y ago
      I'm not a fan of Brutalism in general. But there are some pretty good examples on the MIT campus including the group in east campus. I also rather like the Stratton Student Center on west campus by Eduardo Catalano. Other examples like McCormick are not great.
pcurve 7y ago
Thanks for the Cornell Johnson museum. Not exactly a good museum design but I love it.
DoubleCribble 7y ago
If you want to see the most impressive candidate for an IRL Bond villain HQ, I nominate Mr. Pei's Miho Museum [0]. The art is pretty good for a private collection, but the real gem is the building/compound itself. It's incredible. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miho_Museum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miho_Museum
yingw787 7y ago
I've gone to the Suzhou Museum in China designed by I.M. Pei, and it's really nice, recommend a visit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzhou_Museum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzhou_Museum Seemed like a great guy.
kasey_junk 7y ago
I live in a townhome that is attributed to Pei and Harry Weese (most assume they are mostly a Weese design) and while I love it’s brutalist nature, the aesthetic is very controversial, you love it or hate it. But what amazes me is 2 things. First they are very livable. They would be considered tiny now in the US (sub 900 sq ft originally, with finished basement 1300), but it never feels cramped. The design and size lead to extremely efficient resource utilization and minimal maintenance as well. Second, this place was targeted at middle income families. It was designed to compete with the suburbs being built at the time. Can you imagine a builder now paying for innovative design? In any case I wish more people could live the lifestyle this home allows.
- devy 7y ago
  Do you have pictures of this townhome or care to share the address? I am curious what they look like.
  - kasey_junk 7y ago
    https://images.app.goo.gl/ou4Twc3XJeNtxZPz6 https://images.app.goo.gl/ou4Twc3XJeNtxZPz6 Construction photo. There were approximately 9 designs in one of the first major urban renewal efforts in the country. I live in the smallest. https://images.app.goo.gl/SGMBVKMXUYHgUZteA https://images.app.goo.gl/SGMBVKMXUYHgUZteA Model of the biggest.
- cfallin 7y ago
  > Second, this place was targeted at middle income families There's a random apartment building near downtown Pittsburgh that was designed by I.M. Pei [0] -- a little nicer than others in the area, but by no means a luxury building. It's indeed refreshing to see "normal" buildings for "normal" people designed by famous architects, even if the building itself isn't flashy by any means. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_View_(Pittsburgh) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_View_(Pittsburgh)
ei8htyfi5e 7y ago
Sad. I went to the MIT Media Lab and he designed the building I was in. One of the absolute most breathtaking buildings I've ever had the pleasure to be part of. Will miss his work. Hope some new whippersnapper takes the torch.
dluan 7y ago
For Chinese Americans, I.M. Pei was like Bruce Lee. Someone who almost all Chinese Americans knew of and admired.
- devy 7y ago
  I got your point, but the analogy is reversed, I.M. Pei became well known way before Bruce Lee :)
spata 7y ago
Weird when you discover someone you really admire, only because you read their obit.
khawkins 7y ago
The Louvre pyramid itself is a beautiful structure and it is certainly a sight to see. That being said, its placement in a courtyard surrounded by strikingly beautiful and unique French Renaissance architecture is a testament to modern arrogance. It does not complement the theme or contribute to the panorama, but instead steals the view and obscures the art already there. It was highly controversial and divided Parisians against each other. Clearly the man had talent, but it's a little disgusting how proud of where it was placed.
- dfee 7y ago
  That’s what I thought. I snickered at the label on the header image: > “If there’s one thing I know I didn’t do wrong, it’s the Louvre,”.
- devy 7y ago
  I tend to agree with the obituary described about what I.M. Pei's explanation: He argued that his glass pyramid was merely an updated version of a traditional form, and that his redesigned courtyard had been influenced by the geometric work of the French landscape architect Le Notre. It was rigorously rational, in other words, and in that sense classically French. > but it's a little disgusting how proud of where it was placed. Also, I.M. Pei himself considered JFK Library the most important commission of his life[1], not the Louvre Pyramid. What he merely said was he didn't think he made a wrong choice in designing the glass pyramid. And there were quite a bit of background info and context in his choice in the wikipedia article.[2] [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I._M._Pei#/media/File:JFK_library_Stitch_Crop.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I._M._Pei#/media/File:JFK_libr... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I._M._Pei#Le_Grand_Louvre,_Paris https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I._M._Pei#Le_Grand_Louvre,_Par...
  - chengiz 7y ago
    The explanation is fine by itself, however Le Notre did the Versailles gardens and they look good and are in harmony with their surroundings. The Louvre pyramid is ugly and is in disharmony, which defeats the purpose of architecture. The explanation makes it feel like an even bigger failure somehow.
who-the-fuck 7y ago
And no one cared.
callumprentice 7y ago
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Bank-of-china_clean-img-sma.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Bank-of-... After moving to Hong Kong, I lived near the Bank of China Tower and I would see it every day. I never failed to be awed by the striking design until the day I left. It always felt like it, and the HSBC building close by were competing for wow factor.
yla92 7y ago
RIP legend. You literally put your mark on this world! One of the building he designed in Singapore is "The Gateway"[0]. Every time I am around the area, I can't help but be in awe. 0: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gateway_(Singapore) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gateway_(Singapore)
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

275 points by SREinSF 7y ago

I.M. Pei's architecture is beautiful, geodesic structure in the best possible sense. 102 is also a ripe old age (although far be it from me to say what is a fair time on this earth). Architecture is wonderful as you get to live on through these incredibly beautiful buildings. I look at the stuff Zaha Hadid built and I feel like I can almost see her in the buildings she made. Great architects resonate through their structures. RIP.

mattzito 7y ago
I mean - SOME of it is beautiful. I have to stare at this building every day: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kips_Bay_Towers https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kips_Bay_Towers It’s plain hideous. Sigh.
- spectramax 7y ago
  I rather found it beautiful. Brutalist architecture has its own beauty - to be honest about materials, unapologetic forms and it’s unwavering stability. Also, I’ve been to the Dallas City hall and it is such an insane building, imposing and looming over you as you enter through its facade.
  - rjeli 7y ago
    I don’t really like most brutalism but Dallas city hall is one of my favorite buildings. You might recognize it from Robocop
    - pavel_lishin 7y ago
      Oh man, turns out Dallas has four I.M. Pei buildings! Fountain Place, at least, seems to be as close to objectively cool as possible: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_Place https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_Place
  - abvdasker 7y ago
    In particular the interiors of brutalist structures don't get enough appreciation. Boston City Hall — not done by Pei — stands out in that the exterior is quite ugly but the interior is utilitarian and soothingly cavernous. Unrelatedly, my grandfather lived in one of the Kips Bay Towers during the 70s when he was working in New York as a graphic designer. I have a soft spot for them.
    - fatnoah 7y ago
      >In particular the interiors of brutalist structures don't get enough appreciation. Boston City Hall — not done by Pei — stands out in that the exterior is quite ugly but the interior is utilitarian and soothingly cavernous. As a resident of Boston who's had to travel to city hall many times on Business, I wouldn't call the interior "soothingly cavernous". Perhaps it was initially and has been modified since, but I find it dark sized to make both the visitor and the worker insignificant. Most open space is unusable and appears to have no purpose, but the spaces that are in-use, are somehow cramped and lifeless.
  - fsloth 7y ago
    I strongly disagree. I feel that honesty about materials is bullshit. It's like saying painting should look like paint on canvas and not like mona lisa. This is one of the things the greek - again - got right. Lot of the elements in classical architecture of stone buildings are there just to look nice and some of them even just copy elements that were necessary in wooden construction but were replicated in stone as well because they look nice. That's not to say simple shapes cannot be pleasing. But making concrete look like concrete really isn't an achievement to speak off. It can be a stylistic choice of course.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
- adamson 7y ago
  Wow, I've walked by that block so many times and never would have guessed it was the work of IM Pei
- Hoasi 7y ago
  > I have to stare at this building every day: I like Manuel Gagneux's commentary on the Kips Bay Plaza: https://youtu.be/08GChbQcWxI?t=164 https://youtu.be/08GChbQcWxI?t=164. That's an interesting and somehow comforting way to look at it.

based2 7y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I._M._Pei https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I._M._Pei

oceliker 7y ago

I know him through the buildings he designed at MIT: Buildings 54, 66, and E15. My favorite fun fact to tell visitors is that building 66 (chemical engineering) is a perfect 30-60-90 triangle.

akulkarni 7y ago
And has a mini 30/60/90 triangle on its basement floor!
- oceliker 7y ago
  I had no idea! Will go check it out tomorrow.
joebergeron 7y ago
Woah, I had no idea he designed the Green Building. It was always my favorite architecture on campus (light years better than the Stata Center), much to the disagreement of my peers.
- frob 7y ago
  The Green Building definitely had the better view. Plus it was understandable. I often got lost in Stata above the first floor.
- intuitionist 7y ago
  The Green Building is quite nice in most ways, but there's also the famous story about how it was built "on stilts" parallel to the Charles, so because of the wind coming off the river nobody could open the doors... The legend about how the nearby Alexander Calder sculpture was placed to block the wind is apparently untrue, but the revolving doors on the ground level are very real.
  - ghaff 7y ago
    I'm not a fan of Brutalism in general. But there are some pretty good examples on the MIT campus including the group in east campus. I also rather like the Stratton Student Center on west campus by Eduardo Catalano. Other examples like McCormick are not great.

pcurve 7y ago

Thanks for the Cornell Johnson museum. Not exactly a good museum design but I love it.

DoubleCribble 7y ago

If you want to see the most impressive candidate for an IRL Bond villain HQ, I nominate Mr. Pei's Miho Museum [0]. The art is pretty good for a private collection, but the real gem is the building/compound itself. It's incredible. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miho_Museum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miho_Museum

yingw787 7y ago

I've gone to the Suzhou Museum in China designed by I.M. Pei, and it's really nice, recommend a visit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzhou_Museum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzhou_Museum Seemed like a great guy.

kasey_junk 7y ago

I live in a townhome that is attributed to Pei and Harry Weese (most assume they are mostly a Weese design) and while I love it’s brutalist nature, the aesthetic is very controversial, you love it or hate it. But what amazes me is 2 things. First they are very livable. They would be considered tiny now in the US (sub 900 sq ft originally, with finished basement 1300), but it never feels cramped. The design and size lead to extremely efficient resource utilization and minimal maintenance as well. Second, this place was targeted at middle income families. It was designed to compete with the suburbs being built at the time. Can you imagine a builder now paying for innovative design? In any case I wish more people could live the lifestyle this home allows.

devy 7y ago
Do you have pictures of this townhome or care to share the address? I am curious what they look like.
- kasey_junk 7y ago
  https://images.app.goo.gl/ou4Twc3XJeNtxZPz6 https://images.app.goo.gl/ou4Twc3XJeNtxZPz6 Construction photo. There were approximately 9 designs in one of the first major urban renewal efforts in the country. I live in the smallest. https://images.app.goo.gl/SGMBVKMXUYHgUZteA https://images.app.goo.gl/SGMBVKMXUYHgUZteA Model of the biggest.
cfallin 7y ago
> Second, this place was targeted at middle income families There's a random apartment building near downtown Pittsburgh that was designed by I.M. Pei [0] -- a little nicer than others in the area, but by no means a luxury building. It's indeed refreshing to see "normal" buildings for "normal" people designed by famous architects, even if the building itself isn't flashy by any means. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_View_(Pittsburgh) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_View_(Pittsburgh)

ei8htyfi5e 7y ago

Sad. I went to the MIT Media Lab and he designed the building I was in. One of the absolute most breathtaking buildings I've ever had the pleasure to be part of. Will miss his work. Hope some new whippersnapper takes the torch.

dluan 7y ago

For Chinese Americans, I.M. Pei was like Bruce Lee. Someone who almost all Chinese Americans knew of and admired.

devy 7y ago
I got your point, but the analogy is reversed, I.M. Pei became well known way before Bruce Lee :)

spata 7y ago

Weird when you discover someone you really admire, only because you read their obit.

khawkins 7y ago

The Louvre pyramid itself is a beautiful structure and it is certainly a sight to see. That being said, its placement in a courtyard surrounded by strikingly beautiful and unique French Renaissance architecture is a testament to modern arrogance. It does not complement the theme or contribute to the panorama, but instead steals the view and obscures the art already there. It was highly controversial and divided Parisians against each other. Clearly the man had talent, but it's a little disgusting how proud of where it was placed.

dfee 7y ago
That’s what I thought. I snickered at the label on the header image: > “If there’s one thing I know I didn’t do wrong, it’s the Louvre,”.
devy 7y ago
I tend to agree with the obituary described about what I.M. Pei's explanation: He argued that his glass pyramid was merely an updated version of a traditional form, and that his redesigned courtyard had been influenced by the geometric work of the French landscape architect Le Notre. It was rigorously rational, in other words, and in that sense classically French. > but it's a little disgusting how proud of where it was placed. Also, I.M. Pei himself considered JFK Library the most important commission of his life[1], not the Louvre Pyramid. What he merely said was he didn't think he made a wrong choice in designing the glass pyramid. And there were quite a bit of background info and context in his choice in the wikipedia article.[2] [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I._M._Pei#/media/File:JFK_library_Stitch_Crop.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I._M._Pei#/media/File:JFK_libr... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I._M._Pei#Le_Grand_Louvre,_Paris https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I._M._Pei#Le_Grand_Louvre,_Par...
- chengiz 7y ago
  The explanation is fine by itself, however Le Notre did the Versailles gardens and they look good and are in harmony with their surroundings. The Louvre pyramid is ugly and is in disharmony, which defeats the purpose of architecture. The explanation makes it feel like an even bigger failure somehow.

who-the-fuck 7y ago

And no one cared.

callumprentice 7y ago

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Bank-of-china_clean-img-sma.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Bank-of-... After moving to Hong Kong, I lived near the Bank of China Tower and I would see it every day. I never failed to be awed by the striking design until the day I left. It always felt like it, and the HSBC building close by were competing for wow factor.

yla92 7y ago

RIP legend. You literally put your mark on this world! One of the building he designed in Singapore is "The Gateway"[0]. Every time I am around the area, I can't help but be in awe. 0: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gateway_(Singapore) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gateway_(Singapore)

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]