Ieoh Ming Pei was a Chinese-American architect. Born in Guangzhou into a Chinese family, Pei drew inspiration at an early age from the garden villas at Suzhou, the traditional retreat of the scholar-gentry to which his family belonged. In 1935, he moved to the United States and enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania's architecture school, but quickly transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Unhappy with the focus on Beaux-Arts architecture at both schools, he spent his free time researching emerging architects, especially Le Corbusier.
Pei in 1980
As a child, Pei found the Shizilin Garden in Suzhou to be "an ideal playground".
Pei describes the architecture of Shanghai's Bund waterfront area (seen here in a 2004 photo) as "very much a colonial past".
Pei's first project (1949): 131 Ponce de Leon Avenue, Atlanta
Suzhou, alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major prefecture-level city in Jiangsu province, China. As part of the Yangtze Delta megalopolis, it is a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce.
Image: 东方之门1
Image: Zhouzhuang Town 21
Image: Garden of cultivation for unesco
Image: 20230328 Skyline of Suzhou High speed Rail New Town
