Pei Day

It's a familiar image: a towering, elegant glass-and-steel pyramid encircled by three smaller versions, transparent by day, illuminated by night, rising from the courtyard of a 16th-century former Parisian royal palace. Architect I.M. Pei's most famous work, the pyramids at the Louvre.

BY CHRISTIE MCCOLLUM

Subtle and approachable, Pei speaks with the casual warmth of a man who has absolutely nothing to prove. He has a ready smile, lips curling at the edges with enthusiasm, and his signature round spectacles magnify the eyes that dreamed up the world’s most beautiful structures. Pei’s modest presence truly belies the majesty of his work.

The Chinese-American virtuoso celebrated his 100th birthday this year, and though he’s (officially) retired, Pei continues to consult on new projects that shape the landscapes of cities all over the world. Pei’s career spans the better part of the last seven decades. He has designed buildings in dozens of cities on three continents. Each is unique—Pei has spoken at length about the art and challenge of harmonizing a structure with its physical and cultural environment— but his work does have emergent themes. Geometric patterns and primary volumes, glass pyramids, dramatic angles, monumental facades, the subtle harmony between mixed materials, sweeping open spaces: These are Pei’s tools of choice. His portfolio runs the gamut from high-profile destination buildings like the Louvre Pyramid and the J.F.K. Presidential Library to less-known residential structures, like L.A.’s very own Century Towers, a pair of 28-story mid-century condo buildings across from the Fox lot. Pei has a knack for marrying form and function, wherever his work may be.

Hong Kong

Bank of China

Completed in 1990, the new 70-story Bank of China earned the title of tallest building on the continent. Pei’s masterpiece no longer holds that designation, but the geometric skyscraper remains one of the tallest structures in Hong Kong, and certainly one of the most iconic. Its construction is a progressive stack of triangular modules, all glass and aluminum, that presents a different face from any given vantage point. Angular and cutting, the tower appears to slice open the sky. Inside, the hard angles soften to reveal an expansive 14-story atrium, and, up top, panoramic views of the Hong Kong metropolis.

Paris

The Lourve Pyramid

In 1985 a New York Times story summarized a heated controversy: The Louvre Pyramid was despised by many French observers, called “an architectural joke, an eyesore, an anachronistic intrusion of Egyptian death symbolism in the middle of Paris, and a megalomaniacal folly imposed by [the French President].” Needless to say, attitudes have changed. Pei designed the building as an intentional anachronism, a contemporary geometric structure to both contrast and complement the sprawling 16th-century palace behind it. Its glass was designed to be as clear as possible so as to not obscure the colors of its parent structure, and it houses the underground entrance to the museum, easing visitors’ access as they descend into the broad lobby below.

Japan

The Miho Museum

Carved into a verdant forested hillscape, Japan’s Miho Museum exemplifies Pei’s way with mixed materials. Sheets of glass adorn the central roof, with geometric steel boning supporting the structure. Inside, warm limestone floors and walls remind the visitor of the landscape outside and harken back to the Louvre lobby, where they were most famously used. The museum spans a massive 187,000 square feet, most of it underground, and houses a collection of primarily Asian antiques and objets d’art. Pei refers to it lovingly as "Shangri-La."

Qatar

Museum of Islamic Art

Pei was already retired when he was first approached about the MIA. He agreed to take on the project, with a caveat: He would spend six months traveling the Muslim world to experience its architecture, literature, and history, and use those experiences to shape the design. Located in Doha, Qatar, the result is a staggering stone structure with tiered geometric lines shaping its temple-like silhouette. The museum sits alone on an artificial peninsula, a beacon of tranquil beauty rising from the surrounding waters.

Singapore

The Gateway

The Gateway, completed in 1990 in the bustling city-state of Singapore, is quite literal in its symbolism. Pei’s twin towers rise from the urban landscape as two shimmering paradoxes, trapezoidal, yet angled just so that they appear two-dimensional when viewed from the right perspective. The buildings house a number of corporate tenants and serve as a hub for business in the area. They measure 37 stories each, a commanding presence in the Singapore skyline.

Ohio

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Nicknamed simply “Rock Hall,” Pei’s 1995 landmark embodies the cutting-edge dynamism of the genre it seeks to honor. It stands tall on Cleveland’s revitalized Lake Erie shore, highlighting the bold interplay of diverse geometric elements and channeling the structure of a record player, the movement of a spinning record, and the sleek body of a guitar. The complex features more than 55,000 square feet of gallery space. Exhibitions honor Hall of Fame honorees as well as celebrate the broad history of rock and roll as it continues to evolve in Cleveland and throughout the United States

Washington, D.C.

East Building

The East Building at the D.C. National Gallery of Art presented an intriguing challenge to Pei. The available site was small and oddly shaped, and his design needed to channel the grandeur of the National Mall into that small space while honoring the design of the existing West Building. His design marries these two objectives beautifully. The building sits on a trapezoidal footprint. A central vein bisects its geometry and creates two triangular wings, one for exhibitions and one for work spaces and research; its facade channels the character of the West Building by using the same pink marble to create a sleek and earthy sheen. With a garden of angular glass pyramids out front, a bold and geometric architecture, and an airy atrium foyer, the West Building exemplifies the best of Pei’s signature design flourishes.