Ieoh Ming Pei’s autobiography of his creative ideas for the Louvre Pyramid
Over the years, high-rise buildings have sprung up in China, and people have begun to talk about “taste”, “style”, and "Soul", talk about "the first Chinese architect" I.M. Pei, and talk about his masterpieces: the glass pyramid of the Louvre in France, the Bank of China Building in Hong Kong, the Miho Museum in Japan, the East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, Germany, History Museum. However, one can only be fascinated by the world deep inside I.M. Pei: "There is one thing that is absolutely the same between the universe and I.M. Pei: we understand very little about both." I.M. Pei has always hoped that the world can see through it. His architecture understands him, and "I.M. Pei on I.M. Pei" is a window. For the first time, it talks in detail about his work, his life, his influences, the life lessons he learned, and his relentless pursuit of perfection.
I.M. Pei talked about I.M. Pei. In addition to analyzing architectural masterpieces, he did not forget to talk about music and artistic accomplishment, gardens and Chinese feelings, and more importantly, the ever-present humanistic care: "The purpose of architecture is to enhance Life is not just an object to be admired in a space. It would be too superficial to reduce architecture to that. Architecture must integrate human activities and enhance the quality of this activity. This is my view of architecture. You can understand my works from this perspective.”
Everyone’s childhood influence often affects them throughout their lives. Ieoh Ming Pei was born in Peijia, Lion Forest, Suzhou, China. A good place to play in his childhood was Suzhou gardens. The caves, stone bridges, ponds and waterfalls in the rockeries all aroused his infinite imagination. He recalled: "It was only later that I realized what I learned from my experience in Suzhou. Thinking about it now, it should be said that those experiences had a considerable impact on my design. It made me realize that man and nature coexist, and It’s not just nature. Creativity is the fusion of human skill and nature. This is what I learned from Suzhou Gardens. "
"People-oriented" architectural thinking
Ieoh Ming Pei was able to display his architectural genius all over the world. In addition to the scenery, there were more hardships in work and worldly challenges. His most proud works are those that proved to be masterpieces after being criticized by the world. This book also has dedicated chapters to recall them. The first chapter is about the glass pyramid of the Louvre. He advocates that the rich collection of the Louvre should be open to the public. In Marot's words: "Let the most outstanding works of mankind be appreciated by the most people." The arrogant French But that's not what he thought. He had to remind those critics repeatedly: the stone pyramid has nothing to do with the glass pyramid. The former was built for the dead, while the latter was built for the living. “The design of the Louvre is a rare challenge in my life. From beginning to end, the design of the Louvre took 13 years. I don’t want to design another Louvre. This design is a unique one. It started off rough, and the criticism never stopped... Between 1984 and 1985, after we showed the pyramid design publicly, the controversy reached a fever pitch, and I got a lot of looks on the streets of Paris. "Now, the Louvre. The palace's pyramid is often recognized as an icon and symbol of Paris, along with the Eiffel Tower.
The challenge he encountered in Hong Kong was "Feng Shui" with Chinese characteristics. "The origin of Feng Shui is the belief in the power of nature, but it later evolved into a kind of superstition. It is difficult to avoid this problem when doing architectural design in Hong Kong. There are many Feng Shui masters there who are responsible for the location, orientation and shape of buildings, etc. Although I knew about this, I didn't take it too seriously. However, as soon as the design of the Bank of China Building was released, it was criticized even more fiercely than the Louvre. Of course, the reasons were different. They accused the building of having too many points. I think these sharp corners will bring bad luck to the surrounding buildings, and there are many other objections. Fortunately, my clients have always been on my side.” To the world, I.M. Pei’s. The uniqueness lies in the unbroken Chinese garden culture; and for China, I.M. Pei must use his own architecture to prove that only by eliminating the bad things of his ancestors and retaining the good ones can he stand tall in the world of architecture. His attempts are instructive.
When I.M. Pei talks about architecture, he also talks about cultural feelings: he likes music because music is connected with architecture; he also likes Han Yu’s prose and poetry, and even more loves Tao Yuanming’s articles, "Mr. Chang Li's " "The Essay on Sacrifice to the Twelve Langs" is a tear-jerker, but Tao Yuanming's "Returning Words" and "The Story of the Peach Blossom Spring" are full of charm.
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After decades of pursuit in the architectural world, Ieoh Ming Pei has never left the word “people”: “In my thinking, ‘people-oriented’ may be the most obvious, which is also the core of Chinese and Western cultures. The difference lies. “I think human proportion is important in architectural design and I always try to get that right in architectural design. " He has reservations about the numerous high-rise buildings in the country, and he is very sad about the destruction of traditional buildings. His elegant words are a wake-up call for urban construction in China today: "I think cities are like human bodies, with heart and lungs. There are intestines and a stomach. New York's Central Park is like the lungs of New York, and Suzhou gardens are the lungs of Suzhou; big roads are the large intestine of the city, and small alleys are the small intestine of the city. They are indispensable, big and small. Urban design and the human body are closely related, but the scale is different. "
Ieoh Ming Pei, a Chinese-American architect. Born on April 26, 1917 in Guangdong, China, and received secondary education in Shanghai. He went to the United States in 1935 and received a bachelor's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1940. In 1946 He received a master's degree from Harvard University and stayed at the school to teach. From 1948, he served as the head of the construction department of W. Zeckendorf's real estate company. In 1955, he gathered a group of experts from overall planning to interior design and opened his own business in New York. From the perspective of urban planning, he created many outstanding individual buildings, and these individual buildings changed the appearance of nearby areas and promoted the development of cities such as Montreal, Denver, Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Dallas, and Singapore. Pei's architectural style is generally believed to be influenced by W. Gropius. He mastered the skill of using abstract geometric shapes in architectural design, and skillfully used stone, concrete, Building materials such as steel and glass. As a Chinese architect, he advocates seeking appropriate ways to express the essence of Chinese architectural tradition. I.M. Pei is a member of the American Institute of Architects, a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and an honorary member of the American Institute of Interior Design. A member of the American Academy of Design and the National Council of the Arts. He has won many awards, including the 1979 American Institute of Architects Gold Medal and the 1983 Pritzker Architecture Prize. His representative works include the American Atmospheric Research Center in Colorado and the East China Sea in Taiwan. University Luce Memorial Church, Philadelphia Society Ridge Residential Area, New York JFK International Airport Terminal, Singapore Bank of China Office Building, Dallas City Hall, East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, Boston Kennedy Library, Beijing Fragrant Hill Hotel, Napoleon Garden 4 Glass pyramid, etc.
Brief introduction of Yu Ming:
He was born in Guangzhou in 1917. His ancestors were from a prominent family in Suzhou. His father, Bei Zuyi, was the president of the Bank of China and came to Hong Kong in 1919. Founded the Hong Kong Branch of the Bank of China. In 1935, he went to the United States to study architecture. His architectural designs can be found all over the world, such as the East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the German Historical Museum. Why is architecture ranked alongside art? Ming was not only an outstanding architectural scientist who built many gorgeous palaces "with pen and ruler"; he was also an extremely idealistic architectural artist who was good at blending ancient traditional architectural art with the latest modern technology to create a His own unique style. He is most praised for his concern for the interests of the common people in architectural design. He designed many popular apartments that are both architecturally beautiful and economical in Philadelphia. The designed three-story social apartment is very popular with the working class.
Many people know the glass pyramid in front of the Louvre in France. More and more people regard it as the symbol of Paris together with the Eiffel Tower. Signs and symbols. However, what is little known is that it was opposed by the vast majority of people in Paris when it was first built. Its designer, I.M. Pei, also encountered a lot of looks on the streets of Paris because the Louvre was national. An iconic building that people want to keep as it is. In the 12th century, the Louvre was a castle, mainly for the residence of the soldiers who protected the city, and for the storage of food and ammunition. Later, the building was continuously expanded and became a royal palace for a time. Later, many kings displayed their works of art here. Like the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Louvre is located right in the center of Paris and is a symbol of royal majesty. In 1983, the Louvre was still a bulwark in Paris. How to transform the palace into a modern museum has become a problem for the city. The glass pyramid successfully solves this problem. With the pyramid, the contrast between old and new makes the architecture of the Louvre clearer.
The glass and metal structure used in the pyramid represents the characteristics of our era and is completely different from the past. It tells people that today's Louvre is no longer the palace of the French king, but a public museum belonging to the "public". People need to adapt to architecture and need a process of acceptance. Many people have seen the design drawings of the glass pyramid for a long time. The glass pyramid on the picture is very thin, and all you can see are some intersecting steel pillars. It is difficult for people to feel the feeling of "radiating like a shining diamond". So it was met with skepticism in the beginning. However, I.M. Pei said it best: "People tend to understand architecture quickly... After the building is completed, it is visible. If you are lucky enough to use the building, people may sigh: 'Ah , It's really good, I understand. 'So it's not difficult to get people to accept it after the building is completed."
The Kennedy Presidential Library of the United States
< p> "Ieoh Ming Pei Talks", the name may sound a bit strange at first, but in fact, the complete understanding should be that Ieoh Ming Pei talks about his own experience and understanding of architecture, mainly the important buildings he designed. Mr. Ieoh Ming Pei is a famous Chinese architect. Born in Suzhou, China in 1917, the private gardens in Suzhou had a subtle influence on him. His architecture uniquely reflects the new aesthetic standards resulting from the fusion of two European and Asian traditions - timeless stone and glass. The influence of Chinese cultural background on him is subtle, but he never deliberately highlights this point. "For me, the special functional requirements of the building and the human history of the place are the most important, far more important than my Chinese cultural background. When designing the Louvre in France, my first thought was not my Chinese culture Background, but French history and culture. I think time, culture, and place are elements of architectural design." Pei's architectural designs in China also reflect this concept, such as the Bank of China Building in Hong Kong and the Bank of China Headquarters Building in Beijing. , Xiangshan Hotel, etc. The Suzhou Museum under design also strives to coordinate with the ancient city's white walls and black tiles while embodying modern features, striving to achieve a balance between "Suzhou flavor" and innovation.The Glass Pyramid of the Louvre in France
The author of this book, Gaylord von Boehm, is a close friend of I.M. Pei, and the conversation between the two is more like a casual conversation between old friends. Chatting expresses very professional knowledge in simple language. At the end of the book, an interview with the translator is appended, which shows us Mr. Bei’s Chinese feelings. He is very concerned about the development of Chinese cities, such as the relationship between the development of new cities and the reconstruction of old cities in Beijing, and the regional functional planning of Pudong in Shanghai. China's cities are undergoing rapid development, and new urban areas are being built in many places. China has ancient cultural traditions and a vast land area, and the situation in each place is very different. Therefore, each city should reflect its own characteristics. We can all speak Mandarin, but we can't all live in the same city. The same buildings, the same streets, this monotonous repetition is sad. We need more distinctive buildings and more architects like I.M. Pei.
Ieoh Ming Pei
Ieoh Ming Pei is an internationally renowned architect. The more than 70 works of his life are without exception entangled with money, power and politics. He applied his unique blend of diplomacy and design to buildings such as the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, and the Louvre in Paris, France.
Preserve ancient buildings: I said because the Forbidden City is a cultural relic and a national treasure of the country. The surroundings are now very green, and the sky and trees are harmonious. The rise of tall buildings will destroy the cultural relics of the Forbidden City.
To this day, Pei still considers the ban on building high-rise buildings near the Forbidden City as his main contribution.
I.M. Pei: For me, that is the greatest achievement and the greatest satisfaction.
I used to be very familiar with Liang Sicheng. I met him many times when he came to the United States. It is a pity that the city wall in Beijing is demolished. I talked to Liang Sicheng and it is also a pity that the wall in Suzhou is demolished. You see, the city walls in Italy and France have been preserved. They have the concept of history, and you cannot destroy all history. The best way is to preserve ancient buildings, which is the most important. I feel that after the city wall was demolished, its appearance completely changed.
In 1974, when I returned to China for the first time, I said in a speech at Tsinghua University that high-rise buildings should not be built near the Forbidden City. This was my opinion. The then Vice Prime Minister Gu Mu discussed this issue with me at the Great Hall of the People. , he asked me why we shouldn’t build tall buildings.
I said because the Forbidden City is a cultural relic and a national treasure of the country. The surroundings are very green and the sky and trees are harmonious. The rise of tall buildings will destroy the cultural relics of the Forbidden City. He said that what you said was the same as what Premier Zhou said. I felt honored, I didn’t dare to say anything anymore, I said forget it, his words were much heavier than mine.
Later, they gradually expressed this opinion in Beijing's urban planning, saying that the height of the buildings near the Forbidden City should be like this. You can build tall buildings on the second and third rings because it will not affect the Forbidden City. If you build a high-rise building next to the Forbidden City, such as the Beijing Hotel, you are destroying cultural relics. The cultural relics of the Forbidden City are worthy of study. There are high-rise buildings everywhere in Hong Kong. This is not a problem because it has no history.
The courtyard should also be preserved, and a piece of it should be preserved. It's not enough for you to just keep a few palaces. This is not a good idea. If you want to keep them, just keep them. Of course, the quadrangle courtyard is not suitable for the current reality of life. I understand this very well. I recently talked about this issue with Jia Qinglin (the mayor of Beijing at the time - Editor's note). I said that you must keep the quadrangle courtyard, keep a piece of it, and don't demolish it again. . "I want to do it too, but if more than a dozen families live in a courtyard, how will the benefits be distributed? How will it be handled?" Jia Qinglin asked me. So he has his problem, which is not easy to solve. However, he agreed that some more houses should be built nearby so that the residents of the courtyard could move there, and then the courtyard would be renovated. After the new sanitary conditions were completed, the houses could be sold for a lot of money. There are many overseas Chinese who want to return to Beijing and live there, and they are likely to pay for them. This should be done, because this kind of courtyard house will no longer exist in the future and will become increasingly rare.
Later, Ieoh Ming Pei used US$100,000 to set up a scholarship to help Chinese students study in the United States. When he donated the money, he set a rule: after completing their studies, the students could spend a summer exploring the United States, but they had to return to China to apply what they had learned—just as he had wanted to do before.
Family background: Ieoh Ming Pei was born in Guangzhou on April 26, 1917. His mother was a master flute player and a devout Buddhist. She named him Ieoh Ming, which means light.
Ieoh Ming Pei’s family has a history of 600 years. The first generation of ancestors came to Suzhou in the Ming Dynasty and set up stalls along the road to practice medicine and sell herbal medicine. Later, the descendants of the Bei family developed the family business and became the suppliers of most pharmacies in Jiangnan. By the 18th century, the Pei family was already a large landowner.
I.M. Pei’s grandfather, Pei Litai, first served as an official in the court, and later he helped found the Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank; in 1917, he founded the Suzhou branch and served as manager there.
Ieoh Ming Pei’s father, Pei Zuyi, joined the accounting department of the Bank of China in Beijing after graduating from an American university, and was later sent to Guangzhou. Ieoh Ming Pei was born in Guangzhou on April 26, 1917. His mother was a master flute player and a devout Buddhist. She named him Ieoh Ming, which means light. I.M. Pei was born in the year of the Snake, and people born in the Year of the Snake are said to be charming, intuitive, decisive, vain in their clothing, and stubborn.
Ieoh Ming Pei: My mother is an accomplished female calligrapher, poet, and musician. My mother’s family has a more artistic atmosphere. After my mother passed away, my father paid close attention to my study. Very tight and caring about what I want to do in the future. I didn't know what I would do at that time.
I.M. Pei’s mother passed away due to a long illness, so he returned to his hometown to live with his grandfather. Ieoh Ming Pei's hometown is Suzhou, a place where Wu Nong speaks softly and produces beautiful women. Pei's grandfather, Pei Li Tai, belonged to the old school of the imperial era, eschewing suits in favor of traditional robes. The family is run according to Confucian Taoism. During the ancestor worship, 300 relatives gathered in the ancestral hall, accompanied by music and firecrackers. In order to cultivate respect for his elders, Pei must sit motionless in a hard-backed chair, facing his grandfather, until the old man made a move. Beilitai was very self-disciplined, and his descendants, even when they were adults, were still afraid of his instructions.
Ieoh Ming Pei: One time, we children came home a little late. We were afraid of disturbing the elderly, so we had to sleep quietly in the vestibule.
Berita instilled Confucianism in Pei to cultivate a noble temperament: obey elders, avoid pretentiousness, not get angry easily, and stay calm and calm. Confucius said: "Government is based on virtue, like Beichen; where you live, the stars will follow you." These have greatly benefited I.M. Pei's career in the United States, although this country does not attach much importance to this temperament.
Fragrant Hill Hotel: The goal that I.M. Pei set for himself is actually a reminder: nature and buildings used to be in harmony with yin and yang, and the inside and outside were always integrated into one.
The first work I.M. Pei designed in his motherland was the Fragrant Hill Hotel. He wanted to repay the culture that nurtured him through architecture and help the Chinese architectural community explore a new path. He wanted to revitalize features that ordinary people could still understand - not the red walls and yellow tiles of pedantic palaces and temples, but the white walls and gray bricks of ordinary people's homes. He said that just like I would not look for the roots of Italy in Michelangelo's works, but I would go to Florence to see ordinary people's houses, architecture must originate from people's houses, which he believes are by no means relics of the past. , but informs the power of the present.
In his days at Xiangshan, I.M. Pei usually conveyed his ideas to the designer, then went to do other work, and then came back regularly to monitor the progress and report to the client. Xiangshan Hotel was his personal expression of New China, so he took good care of it. People were surprised to see him scratching his head at the company drawing table with a pencil in his hand. This was the only project he personally directed in several years. He held meetings with his partners every two hours with blueprints and elevations, and worked long hours.
In the West, large buildings are often presented to people from the front, but this is Xiangshan, and Xiangshan is extending euphemistically. According to Pei's vision, guests first walked past the archway with five red flags and arrived at the vestibule paved with gray floor tiles, before seeing the white plaster wall with traditional octagonal and plum-shaped windows. After people walk in, they can see the lobby surrounding the skylight of I.M. Pei's typical spatial structure. This style is somewhere between Suzhou gardens and the atrium of the National Gallery of Art in Washington. It is a place to drink tea and admire green bamboos and fish in the swaying shadows of the trees.
Ieoh Ming Pei: In the West, windows are windows, which let in light and fresh air. But to the Chinese, it is a picture frame, and the garden is always outside it.
Borrowing scenery in Chinese garden architecture is very important. For example, there are large gardens in France, such as the Palace of Versailles. Standing there, you can see everything at a glance. However, Chinese gardens have many twists and turns. If you bend down like this, you can only see one scene. After walking a few steps, Take another look at another scene, this one is very clever, and it has some influence on my architecture. Another interesting thing is that when you go to a Chinese garden and you see the road directly opposite the door, you will definitely not be able to walk. You have to go around the side road for a long time to get to the big house. This is like dealing with Chinese people. Very similar.
The carefully planned long row of white buildings, no more than 4 stories high, decorated with lattice patterns and octagonal windows, winding along the atrium, is said to ward off evil spirits. This illusive and peaceful pavilion is both familiar and strange to the Chinese. Because this is a building made by I.M. Pei based on the flat roofs and white walls of Suzhou, it seems very out of place in Beijing. Some people were alarmed by Pei's deliberate frugality. "I.M. Pei hopes to express true beauty," his assistant Fred Fang explained: "It is like a girl without lipstick."
The goal I.M. Pei set for himself is actually It is a reminder that nature and buildings used to be in harmony with yin and yang, and that the inside and outside were always one.
Ieoh Ming Pei: In the past, if a scholar’s ??study did not have a garden in front of it, it could not be called a study. The two must be integrated.
According to this style, the Western-style guest rooms designed by I.M. Pei for the Xiangshan Hotel can browse 11 beautiful gardens full of flowers, plants and ancient trees. The winding garden paths are paved with delicate plum and bamboo patterns arranged in colorful boulders that his American assistants collected from a riverbed near the Vietnamese border.
Ieoh Ming Pei: The local villagers had never seen a foreigner. When my American assistant rode a mule to that place, the villagers even killed a pig to entertain him, and blood flowed all over the ground. He didn't understand the situation and came back and told me that he was very scared and thought, Oh my God, they are going to kill me. The villagers were also surprised to find that the foreigner actually had to spend thousands of dollars to buy their stones. As a result, all the old ladies and children went to the river to quarry stones.
The construction of Xiangshan Hotel began in 1980. China at that time was very different from China now. At that time, there were very few new buildings that could be constructed in China, and the technology was even worse. But that's not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is management.
I.M. Pei brought a set of vacuum cleaners back from the United States. At that time, there were very few such things in China, almost none. The filter of the vacuum cleaner needs to be changed frequently after use, but they did not change it, and the motor burned out.
Ieoh Ming Pei: I have been to Beijing many times, but rarely go back to Xiangshan Hotel. Once, my wife saw that the windows were dirty at the Xiangshan Hotel. She said this was not possible, and she could not see the scenery outside, so she went to wipe it. This was indeed true, but it was during the transitional period. China is very different now than it was 20 years ago. It’s a pleasure to go back now. I think the country is making progress.
The Fragrant Hill Hotel also had a huge impact in the United States. Postmodernists said that this was an act of surrender by I.M. Pei. Modernism, they believed, was finally also adopting historical grounds and decoration. I.M. Pei disagreed, saying that modernism was not exhausted. Of course, it has changed for the better and become more freeing.