1917-
Modernist with a Flare.

Architect Ioeh Ming Pei was one of a handful of American architects to have significantly affected twentieth- century architectural design. Pei's designs have often been on the leading edge of aesthetic technological and urban innovation. More than any of his contemporaries, Pei has taken modernist principles of architecture and translated them into reality.

Professional Life.

Born in Canton, China, Pei attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. His principal teacher at Harvard's Graduate School of Design, Walter Gropius, liked to say that Pei was by far his most promising student. Gropius proceeded to make Pei an assistant professor in 1945 before he had finished his master's degree. In 1948 Pei left Harvard and became the director of architecture in developer William Zeckendor's firm, Webb and Knapp. Pei established his own practice in 1955 and has headed the firm I. M. Pei...