Louvre pyramid architect I.M. Pei dies | News | DW | 16.05.2019

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Louvre pyramid architect I.M. Pei dies

Architect I.M. Pei, one of the most famous and prolific architects of the 20th century, has died at the age of 102. He was best known for his renovation of the Louvre in Paris, which at first attracted huge criticism.

  • I. M. Pei (picture-alliance/dpa/A. Abd Rabbo)

    Louvre pyramid architect I. M. Pei's grand legacy

    Architecture pioneer

    Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei studied under some of the finest teachers at Harvard and embarked on a successful career soon after the end of World War II. By the time he was 40, he had his own architectural firm in New York. His career was shaped by the major global events of the 20th century, which he interpreted and expressed through architecture.

  • John F. Kennedy Presidential Library (Getty Images/Chip Somodevilla)

    Louvre pyramid architect I. M. Pei's grand legacy

    Death of a president

    The assassination of US President John F. Kennedy propelled Pei's career to new heights, as his design was chosen for the Kennedy Library in Boston (1979). A number of delays caused the original design to be compromised. Pei said he regretted not being allowed to dedicate a glass pyramid to the slain president at the center of the building, but he later revived the idea for another project.

  • National Gallery of Art (picture-alliance/Prisma Archiv)

    Louvre pyramid architect I. M. Pei's grand legacy

    A building to house national treasures

    Parallel to his work on the Kennedy Library, I. M. Pei also designed the extension of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. (1978). His design features open spaces and hidden windows which flood the interior of the building with natural light. French President Francois Mitterand was so impressed that he commissioned Pei to design the new entrance to the Louvre Museum in Paris.

  • Louvre Museum (picture-alliance/dpa/M. Tödt)

    Louvre pyramid architect I. M. Pei's grand legacy

    A controversial pyramid

    Pei's design for the Louvre pyramid has become the most iconic landmark of Paris after the Eiffel Tower. However, the modernist structure faced what appeared to be insurmountable opposition from Parisians, who disliked the idea of marrying a historic building with a contemporary design. The pyramid, finished in 1989, also embodied the social struggles between political factions at the time.

  • Bank of China in Hong Kong (Getty Images/AFP/P. Lopez )

    Louvre pyramid architect I. M. Pei's grand legacy

    Towering over Hong Kong

    The Bank of China, located in Hong Kong, was the last big project that I. M. Pei took on before officially retiring in 1990. Completed that same year, the impressive building not only withstands Hong Kong's harsh winds, but also adds character to the city's skyline. Local opponents, however, remarked that the edifice lacked integrity according to feng shui guidelines.

  • Luxemburg MUDAM (Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art) (picture-alliance/CTK Photo/K. Kriz)

    Louvre pyramid architect I. M. Pei's grand legacy

    MUDAM in Luxembourg

    The Musée d'art moderne Grand-Duc Jean in Luxemburg, known as MUDAM, was one of the smaller projects that Pei took on after retiring in 1990. While he'd initially planned a much larger building, in the end he was obligated to modify his design so that the museum would fit into the walls of these fortress ruins.

  • German Historical Museum in Berlin (picture-alliance/DUMONT Bildarchiv/S. Lubenow)

    Louvre pyramid architect I. M. Pei's grand legacy

    A piece of Pei

    Germany also got its small piece of I. M. Pei with the 2003 extension of the German Historical Museum in Berlin. Like in Paris, Pei clashed with local authorities when it came to realizing his vision. The extension is hidden away from the facade of the 18th-century building it compliments, and Pei's glass and steel structures provide additional space for a number of added galleries at the museum.

  • Suzhou Art Museum (picture-alliance/maxppp/Xu Zhiqiang)

    Louvre pyramid architect I. M. Pei's grand legacy

    Suzhou Art Museum

    Pei was born in the Chinese city of Suzhou in 1917. Many decades later, he designed the city's museum for traditional art from the region. Representing a modern take on classic Chinese architecture, the building was opened in 2006 and was well suited to the city known as the "Venice of the East." Suzhou is famous for its gardens and canals.

  • Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar (picture-alliance/dpa/R. Jensen)

    Louvre pyramid architect I. M. Pei's grand legacy

    I. M. Pei in the Middle East

    The Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar, was one of the later projects that I. M. Pei pursued. Having long retired from full-time consulting as a master architect, he told authorities in Qatar his personal requirements - and they agreed. The museum is built on an artificial island, as per Pei's wishes, and is influenced by Islamic architecture. It was opened in 2008.

    Author: Sertan Sanderson


  • I. M. Pei (picture-alliance/dpa/A. Abd Rabbo)

    Louvre pyramid architect I. M. Pei's grand legacy

    Architecture pioneer

    Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei studied under some of the finest teachers at Harvard and embarked on a successful career soon after the end of World War II. By the time he was 40, he had his own architectural firm in New York. His career was shaped by the major global events of the 20th century, which he interpreted and expressed through architecture.

  • John F. Kennedy Presidential Library (Getty Images/Chip Somodevilla)

    Louvre pyramid architect I. M. Pei's grand legacy

    Death of a president

    The assassination of US President John F. Kennedy propelled Pei's career to new heights, as his design was chosen for the Kennedy Library in Boston (1979). A number of delays caused the original design to be compromised. Pei said he regretted not being allowed to dedicate a glass pyramid to the slain president at the center of the building, but he later revived the idea for another project.

  • National Gallery of Art (picture-alliance/Prisma Archiv)

    Louvre pyramid architect I. M. Pei's grand legacy

    A building to house national treasures

    Parallel to his work on the Kennedy Library, I. M. Pei also designed the extension of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. (1978). His design features open spaces and hidden windows which flood the interior of the building with natural light. French President Francois Mitterand was so impressed that he commissioned Pei to design the new entrance to the Louvre Museum in Paris.

  • Louvre Museum (picture-alliance/dpa/M. Tödt)

    Louvre pyramid architect I. M. Pei's grand legacy

    A controversial pyramid

    Pei's design for the Louvre pyramid has become the most iconic landmark of Paris after the Eiffel Tower. However, the modernist structure faced what appeared to be insurmountable opposition from Parisians, who disliked the idea of marrying a historic building with a contemporary design. The pyramid, finished in 1989, also embodied the social struggles between political factions at the time.

  • Bank of China in Hong Kong (Getty Images/AFP/P. Lopez )

    Louvre pyramid architect I. M. Pei's grand legacy

    Towering over Hong Kong

    The Bank of China, located in Hong Kong, was the last big project that I. M. Pei took on before officially retiring in 1990. Completed that same year, the impressive building not only withstands Hong Kong's harsh winds, but also adds character to the city's skyline. Local opponents, however, remarked that the edifice lacked integrity according to feng shui guidelines.

  • Luxemburg MUDAM (Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art) (picture-alliance/CTK Photo/K. Kriz)

    Louvre pyramid architect I. M. Pei's grand legacy

    MUDAM in Luxembourg

    The Musée d'art moderne Grand-Duc Jean in Luxemburg, known as MUDAM, was one of the smaller projects that Pei took on after retiring in 1990. While he'd initially planned a much larger building, in the end he was obligated to modify his design so that the museum would fit into the walls of these fortress ruins.

  • German Historical Museum in Berlin (picture-alliance/DUMONT Bildarchiv/S. Lubenow)

    Louvre pyramid architect I. M. Pei's grand legacy

    A piece of Pei

    Germany also got its small piece of I. M. Pei with the 2003 extension of the German Historical Museum in Berlin. Like in Paris, Pei clashed with local authorities when it came to realizing his vision. The extension is hidden away from the facade of the 18th-century building it compliments, and Pei's glass and steel structures provide additional space for a number of added galleries at the museum.

  • Suzhou Art Museum (picture-alliance/maxppp/Xu Zhiqiang)

    Louvre pyramid architect I. M. Pei's grand legacy

    Suzhou Art Museum

    Pei was born in the Chinese city of Suzhou in 1917. Many decades later, he designed the city's museum for traditional art from the region. Representing a modern take on classic Chinese architecture, the building was opened in 2006 and was well suited to the city known as the "Venice of the East." Suzhou is famous for its gardens and canals.

  • Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar (picture-alliance/dpa/R. Jensen)

    Louvre pyramid architect I. M. Pei's grand legacy

    I. M. Pei in the Middle East

    The Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar, was one of the later projects that I. M. Pei pursued. Having long retired from full-time consulting as a master architect, he told authorities in Qatar his personal requirements - and they agreed. The museum is built on an artificial island, as per Pei's wishes, and is influenced by Islamic architecture. It was opened in 2008.

    Author: Sertan Sanderson


Architect I.M. Pei, who found fame employing a modern style on numerous high-profile projects over more than six decades, has died at the age of 102, the New York Times reported Thursday.

The Chinese-born Pei — who masterminded construction of the Louvre pyramid as part of the art gallery's extensive renovation in the 1980s — was said to have died overnight.

The son of a prominent banker in China, the young Ieoh Ming Pei moved to the US in 1935 to study architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.

After teaching and working for the US government, he started work for a New York developer in 1948 and opened his own firm in 1955.

Pei's portfolio included museums, public buildings and company headquarters around the world, including the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong and the Athens' Museum of Modern Art.

  • Jean Rene JR Installation Louvre Paris

    Optical illusion helps Louvre's famous pyramid turn 30

    Eye-popping illusion

    The world's largest art museum may be more than 200 years old, but its iconic entrance — a glass pyramid — didn't arrive until 1989. To mark the structure's 30th anniversary, street artist JR was commissioned to design an optical illusion made of paper strips. The temporary collage, when viewed from above, gives the famed 21-meter-high (nearly 70-foot-high) pyramid dizzying added depth.

  • Jean Rene JR Installation Louvre Paris

    Optical illusion helps Louvre's famous pyramid turn 30

    The 'French Banksy'

    Street artist JR — dubbed the "French Banksy" after the British artist famous for his social commentary — promised his latest work would reveal "the Secret of the Great Pyramid." The installation was created using a technique that distorts the image of the subject unless viewed from a specific angle but he was not able to achieve the project alone.

  • Volunteers paste strips of paper outside the Louvre, Paris

    Optical illusion helps Louvre's famous pyramid turn 30

    Hundreds needed to create mirage

    Some 400 volunteers were roped in to work on the project. They spent four days in teams of 50 to paste strips of printed paper on the cobbles of the courtyard in front of the museum. "There are more than 2,000 strips to paste on the ground, each 10 meters long, so it's a huge puzzle," the artist told the Agence France-Presse news agency.

  • Volunteers stick down paper strips

    Optical illusion helps Louvre's famous pyramid turn 30

    Giant projection screen

    When finished, the collage became a giant screen that projected the pyramid, apparently emerging from its foundations, as if from a giant quarry of white rock. The ariel view of the image was then projected to the public by two plasma screens in the courtyard. Although the main pyramid was untouched, three smaller pyramids were covered with paper to enhance the final optical illusion.

  • Man takes photo in front of Louvre pyramid

    Optical illusion helps Louvre's famous pyramid turn 30

    Stunt prompts complaints

    Despite the hype, some museum-goers were unimpressed, complaining that they couldn't see any optical illusion at ground level. Some even accused the museum that contains the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo of elitism, because a special VIP pass was the only way to view the installation from a balcony.

  • Jean Rene standing in front of the Louvre pyramid

    Optical illusion helps Louvre's famous pyramid turn 30

    Disappearing act

    The crater collage is the second installation by JR — whose real name is Jean Rene — at the Louvre's iconic pyramid. In 2016, he made the glass structure "disappear" with a black and white photo trick. The nearly 700 glass segments were papered with small portions of images of the Louvre Palace, which the pyramid partially blocks.

  • Construction of the Louvre pyramid

    Optical illusion helps Louvre's famous pyramid turn 30

    'Pharoah Mitterrand's pyramid'

    Commissioned by the late French President Francois Mitterrand in 1984, the pyramid was hated by many Parisians who said the glass structure was incompatible with the classic French Renaissance style of the Louvre Palace. Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei was also mocked, as he was deemed not French enough. Today, the structure is one of Paris' main landmarks.

    Author: Nik Martin


Louvre detested at first

However, it was Pei's work on the Louvre that proved most controversial and memorable.

His selection for the project proved controversial from the very beginning, with many surprised that a French architect had not been chosen. Pei also had no prior experience with historic buildings.

His futuristic 21-meter-tall (70-foot) steel-framed, glass-walled pyramid at the museum's grand entrance — with three smaller pyramids nearby — was detested by many French critics. However, it also won praise for successfully embracing modernity in a setting that was grounded in history.

Read more: 100 years of Bauhaus: Myths and misunderstandings

The pyramid at the entrance to the Louvre, by I. M. Pei

​​​Pei successfully blended the Louvre, parts of which date to the 12th century, with modernity

'Lasting architecture has to have roots'

Despite the modernity of Pei's work, he himself said that tradition was important as a frame of reference.

"I understand that time has changed, we have evolved," said Pei. "But I don't want to forget the beginning. A lasting architecture has to have roots."

Although he formally retired from his firm in 1990, Pei was still accepting projects in his late 80s, such as museums in Luxembourg, Qatar and his ancestral Chinese home of Suzhou.

rc/cmk (AFP, Reuters)

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