Pei Ieoh Ming is a renowned architect. Pei is an American Chinese whose ancestral home was located in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. He first studied at St. John’s University in Shanghai and then went to the United States to further his education. He graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1939 and received his master’s degree from the Graduate School of Design of Harvard University in 1946. Pei established I. M. Pei & Partners was established in New York. He gradually formed his unique design philosophy with a stress on environmental and economic considerations. Working from the perspective of urban planning, Pei created many excellent architectural works, which contributed significantly to the improvement of the appearance of neighboring areas, promotion of the growth of the city, transformation of old city areas and the development of new sections of a city. Pei is skillful at using abstract geometric shapes and applying such building materials as rock, concrete, steel and glass in architectural designs. He believes that an architect should seek appropriate means to give full expression to the essence of Chinese architectural traditions. As a good case in point, his design of Fragrant Hill Hotel and Resort in Beijing cleverly follows the principles and artfully employs elements of classic Suzhou gardens. Pei’s representative works include the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the Society Hill Towers in Philadelphia, the East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the John Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, and the Suzhou Museum. He won the Pritzker Award of the United States, a National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement, a Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects, the French National Order of the Legion of Honor and a China International Science and Technology Cooperation Award. In 1984, he was elected as a foreign academician of the French Academy of Fine Arts. The year 1996 witnessed his election as a foreign academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
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