Reaction paper(First Person Singular I.M. Pei)

After watching the First Person Singular, I have come to understand more things about

I.M Pei, about his life, his early years in China, his schooling at both Harvard and MIT, his

approach to architecture and design and also some of his famous creations.

Together with these I have come to realize that he is his more of an analytical person

that considers his own analytical approaches thus arriving to his own method designing. In lined

with this, is his great concern about geometric form as a driving force for design and a system

that ties everything together.

When faced with problems, such as an irregular lot with four uneven sides, he changes

his perception by imagining a line cutting the lot to form 2 triangular forms. From that simple

form he can work out endless variation of design. His methodologies in creating solutions to

each of his work primarily rely on considering the history, traditions, time, place and geometric

forms, creating originality to magnificent designs and unique structural solutions.

From all of his creations, the Louvre pyramid always crossed my mind, maybe because it

is one of his famous and most controversial works. But what amazed me the most was the it’s

monumental scale and the fact that it’s made from glass and metal. It demonstrates structural

stability and transparency at the same time. Because of its enormous appearance in the middle

of the court it also provides a focal point of the Louvre. It is a very impressive example of

modern architecture complimenting the French Renaissance architectural style of the museum.

This is truly an inspiring piece of architecture that I want to see with my own eyes.

Bandales, Marvin D.BS-architecture

History of Architecture 2