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 its monumental scale and the fact that its 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