Architect I M Pei dies at age 102, leaves his mark with buildings in S'pore

RIP, I M Pei.

Zhangxin Zheng | May 17, 2019, 02:21 PM

World renowned architect I M Pei (Ieoh Ming Pei) has died.

He was 102.

His son Chien Chung Pei revealed on May 16, 2019, that his father passed away overnight.

Who is I M Pei?

Pei was best known for the iconic Louvre Museum in Paris, which was actually a controversial design back then.

Born in Guangzhou, China in 1917, Pei later moved to the United States at the age of 18.

The Harvard graduate worked as a research scientist before becoming an architect with his own firm in 1955.

Pei's designs are known for their crispy geometry.

Other iconic buildings by Pei are the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the U.S., the Kennedy library of National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha.

Pei also designed several buildings in Singapore.

Singapore buildings by Pei

There are three landmark buildings designed by Pei in Singapore:

OCBC Centre

The headquarters of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC), OCBC Centre, that looks like a huge calculator in the Central Business District, was actually designed by Pei.

Pei was 60 years old when the S$100 million project was completed in 1976.

You can read more here:

Raffles City

Raffles City was built in the 1980s and was opened in October 1986.

The project took 17 years to plan and construct, and it was also a controversial design by Pei back then for being too modernistic.

Photo from CapitaLand Facebook

Raffles City in 1986. Via NAS.

Photo from Raffles City Singapore Facebook.

The Gateway

The Gateway was completed in 1991 along Beach Road.

You will definitely not miss the identical parallelogram twin towers when you are in the vicinity of Bugis.

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Tributes

Here are some tributes written in memory of Pei.

https://www.facebook.com/georgeyeo/posts/10219884448924059
Top photo collage from KJ Rink Facebook and OCBC