Given the enduring stature of I. M. Pei and his buildings, it seems almost predestined that the Chinese American architect would reach his 100th birthday. To celebrate the occasion, we asked a group of leading figures in architecture to reflect on their favorite Pei buildings. The choices vary widely, from the Kips Bay Towers in New York to the seminal Louvre Pyramid in Paris…
“The Pyramid is an absolutely audacious structure that also now manages to feel inevitable. This project caused hysteria when it was proposed because it seemed incompatible with the existing 18th-century structures. But it is really quite brilliant in its simplicity and elegance and somehow this almost alien form actually salutes its context.”
—Roger Duffy, partner, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill