Quotessence
Home / Authors / I. M. Pei
I. M. Pei

I. M. Pei Quotes

Architect

Filter quotes by topic

AllArchitectureBuildingProjectsWantYearsClientsLongDesignEastPastSaidTwoWorldAcceptedArtArtistBuiltChallengesChinaCities

Famous I. M. Pei Quotes

“François Mitterrand was a student of architecture, he had done a lot of research before he called me. He said, "You did something special at the National Gallery of Art in Washington - you brought the new and the old together." But John Russell Pope finished the West Building in 1941, so when the East Building opened it was only about 40 years old. But the Louvre is 800 years old! A much bigger design challenge.”

YearsArtSaidDoneTogetherChallengesSpecialDesignStudentsBuildingResearchBiggerWestFinishedEastArchitecturePopeGallerySomething SpecialLouvre
Author:I. M. Pei
Create image

“Qatar does not have much history, it's a new emirate. So I couldn't draw on the history of the country; its history is really just being a desert. But I thought, the one thing I must learn about for this project is the Islamic faith. So I read about Islam and Islamic architecture, and the more I studied the more I realized where the best Islamic buildings were.”

DoeCountryOne ThingBuildingProjectsDrawsIslamArchitectureI RealizedDesertIslamicJust BeingQatarEmiratesIslamic Faith
Author:I. M. Pei
Create image

“At the beginning, I thought the best Islamic work was in Spain - the mosque in Cordoba, the Alhambra in Granada. But as I learned more, my ideas shifted. I traveled to Egypt, and to the Middle East many times.I found the most wonderful examples of Islamic work in Cairo, it turns out. I'd visited mosques there before, but I didn't see them with the same eye as I did this time. They truly said something to me about Islamic architecture.”

SaidIdeasEyeTurnsFoundWonderfulMiddleExampleEastArchitectureIslamicMiddle EastTraveledEgyptSpainMosquesCairoGranada
Author:I. M. Pei
Create image