Hong Kong Museum Celebrates Life Of Architect I.M. Pei

AFP/APP

Hong Kong: More than 30 years after I.M. Pei reshaped Hong Kong’s skyline with a jagged tower of steel and glass, the Chinese-American architect is once again the talk of the town as a museum celebrates his life and legacy.

Pei created world landmarks that blended modernity with history, often using stark structures and sharp lines.

His work earned the 1983 Pritzker Prize, considered architecture’s Nobel. Of his nearly 50 designs in the United States and abroad, more than half won major awards.

“He had a unique career… having been able to work with world leaders and do buildings of significance,” his son Sandi Pei told AFP.

“The projects that he did are of a consequence, a scale and a reputation that is very difficult to match.”

Pei, who died in 2019 at age 102, is the focus of a retrospective at Hong Kong’s M+ museum that opens Saturday after seven years of preparation.

The exhibit features over 400 objects, from original drawings and photographs to architectural models and Pei’s trademark round glasses.

Pei became a household name in the United States after being commissioned for the John F. Kennedy Library in 1964, with the president’s widow reportedly won over by Pei’s charisma.

His star rose even further when French president Francois Mitterrand in 1981 tapped Pei for the Grand Louvre project, with his design for a giant glass pyramid infuriating Parisians at first.

“My father was very charming,” said Sandi, also an architect.

“He always said you don’t pick your projects, you pick your clients — but not everybody can pick Francois Mitterrand or Jacqueline Kennedy.”