Jump to content

RIP I.M. Pei


Jive Turkey

Recommended Posts

The pyramid was ridiculed at first, and has become a tourist favorite.  It's an amazing structure that doesn't detract from the surrounding heavily embellished,  classical, heavy masonry architecture, and still has it's own unique identity, scale, and proportion.  Transparent yet it has weight.

The light filled subterranean below was one of my favorites when we visited a couple years back.

A talented, creative man.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He took an irregular trapezoid lot that most people would probably have built square or rectangle and left a big splotch of ground.  But this guy... THIS guy.. well he built this:

b6aaeb6ebfeeef6d2a7ef68cfbafaec3--cultur

 

National-Gallery-of-Art__2018_EastBuildi

Got damn ingeniously simple... two opposite triangles adjoining each other.  I spent MANY a wonderful time in that building.

Was Pei >> Wright?  He'd get my vote, probably.  There was nothing the man couldn't design, and design better than anyone.  RIP.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

The pyramid was ridiculed at first, and has become a tourist favorite.  It's an amazing structure that doesn't detract from the surrounding heavily embellished,  classical, heavy masonry architecture, and still has it's own unique identity, scale, and proportion.  Transparent yet it has weight.

The light filled subterranean below was one of my favorites when we visited a couple years back.

A talented, creative man.

The chalice and the spear. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not an architect, but I think this vantage point of the National Museum of Art got me interested in architecture.  So clever and sensible.  To create alignment of a building in the background with angles from the foreground building takes amazing forethought, planning and an eye for design.  Dude was a wizard for sure.  

stringio.jpg?1414215982

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Fico said:

I believe he designed the tallest five sided building in the world, Chase Tower in Houston.

H-town bitches

He also designed 2425 West Lopp South, the very non-descript mid-rise office building  between Westheimer and San Felipe next to Hotel Derek. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, phdhorn said:

He took an irregular trapezoid lot that most people would probably have built square or rectangle and left a big splotch of ground.  But this guy... THIS guy.. well he built this:

b6aaeb6ebfeeef6d2a7ef68cfbafaec3--cultur

 

National-Gallery-of-Art__2018_EastBuildi

Got damn ingeniously simple... two opposite triangles adjoining each other.  I spent MANY a wonderful time in that building.

Was Pei >> Wright?  He'd get my vote, probably.  There was nothing the man couldn't design, and design better than anyone.  RIP.

He fought to have the edges of the triangular corners of the building left as sharp edges of marble against the advice of the fabricators. They said they would chip and lose their sharp edge. They recommended he square or round of the corners.  He resisted and, It hasn't failed yet, and is one of the coolest details on the building.  The exterior design itself has never done much for me, but the interior spaces are sublime.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, phdhorn said:

He took an irregular trapezoid lot that most people would probably have built square or rectangle and left a big splotch of ground.  But this guy... THIS guy.. well he built this:

b6aaeb6ebfeeef6d2a7ef68cfbafaec3--cultur

 

National-Gallery-of-Art__2018_EastBuildi

Got damn ingeniously simple... two opposite triangles adjoining each other.  I spent MANY a wonderful time in that building.

Was Pei >> Wright?  He'd get my vote, probably.  There was nothing the man couldn't design, and design better than anyone.  RIP.

I love the east wing.  Takes my breath away everytime I drive by it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, phdhorn said:

He took an irregular trapezoid lot that most people would probably have built square or rectangle and left a big splotch of ground.  But this guy... THIS guy.. well he built this:

b6aaeb6ebfeeef6d2a7ef68cfbafaec3--cultur

 

National-Gallery-of-Art__2018_EastBuildi

Got damn ingeniously simple... two opposite triangles adjoining each other.  I spent MANY a wonderful time in that building.

Was Pei >> Wright?  He'd get my vote, probably.  There was nothing the man couldn't design, and design better than anyone.  RIP.

Not a fan of the modern mixed in with the classic buildings. It seems misplaced.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Bevo said:

Not a fan of the modern mixed in with the classic buildings. It seems misplaced.

I might say that if it were squeezed between other buildings on the Mall. But being the farthest building East, and essentially pointing toward the Capitol, I think it's an incredibly fitting structure and very much a representative of its era as the classic buildings are.  It almost seems too being Arrowhead pointing toward the capitol. But to each his own, that's reasonable..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, deadshank said:

He also designed 2425 West Lopp South, the very non-descript mid-rise office building  between Westheimer and San Felipe next to Hotel Derek. 

 

Cool, thanks for posting this.  I always wondered if they planned for a mirror image building to go up on the empty lot next door, but then an oil bust/real estate collapse happened.

 

image.jpg

Edited by MAROON
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, MAROON said:

Cool, thanks for posting this.  I always wondered if they planned for a mirror image building to go up on the empty lot next door, but then an oil bust/real estate collapse happened.

 

image.jpg

Yes. Phase II was planned as a mirror image but the 1980's oil bust out front shoulda told ya. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

43 minutes ago, MAROON said:

Cool, thanks for posting this.  I always wondered if they planned for a mirror image building to go up on the empty lot next door, but then an oil bust/real estate collapse happened.

 

image.jpg

This thing used to have a big For Lease sign that said "Designed by IM Pei!!". Always made me think to myself, "well, even Babe Ruth struck out a bunch of times".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Bullneck said:

He was lucky to have worked at a time when not much talent was required.  I think he's only better than Philip Johnson because of the Louvre.  He had one good idea his entire career.  

I'd put Philip Johnsons New Canaan glass house right up there,  more so because of the time period it was conceived.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

I'd put Philip Johnsons New Canaan glass house right up there,  more so because of the time period it was conceived.

It's a knock off of the Farnsworth House.  Being #2 doesn't usually count for much.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...