I. M. Pei in China, Revisiting Roots

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I. M. Pei in China, Revisiting Roots

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Ariana Lindquist for The New York Times
The architect I. M. Pei in the foyer of the Suzhou Museum in China, celebrating the opening of the building, which he designed.

By DAVID BARBOZA
Published: October 9, 2006
SUZHOU, China, Oct. 8 — For I. M. Pei, the sprawling white stucco museum that opened to great fanfare here this weekend is both a possible swan song and a second chance.



Ariana Lindquist for The New York Times
On Saturday, the first day the Suzhou Museum was open to the public, visitors took in the garden area, which includes an artificial pond.



The only other building he has ever designed in mainland China, a luxury hotel completed in Beijing in 1982, was a disappointment that he says was rescued only by its beautiful setting in the woods. “I was saved by the trees,” he said ruefully in an interview Saturday afternoon.

This time Mr. Pei believes he has succeeded, he said. Returning to his ancestral home 100 miles northwest of Shanghai, he has designed a $40 million building that he hopes will help point the way toward a new type of architecture in the world’s fastest-growing economy, a building that is Chinese in spirit yet ultimately modern.

“I’ve never done anything like this before,” said Mr. Pei, the 89-year-old architect, who was nursing a cold and sipping from a cup of hot water. “I’ve used gray and white, which are Suzhou colors. But the form is modern.”

Since retiring in 1990 from his New York firm, Mr. Pei has traveled the world, putting his bright, geometric imprints on buildings in London, Luxembourg, Japan and the Middle East.

The Suzhou Museum is uniquely personal for him, he said. Although Mr. Pei was born south of here, in Guangzhou, and grew up mostly in Hong Kong and Shanghai, his forebears lived in Suzhou for hundreds of years. And he spent several memorable summers here as a youth. “My grandfather had a house and a garden here,” he said. “I was one of the older grandsons. I should learn about the family business. So I came here three summers. I remember it well.”
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(artigo NYTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/09/arts/design/09pei.html