I. M. Pei:
Life Is Architecture
I. M. Pei:
Life Is Architecture
5 Jan 2025
Ticket Information
Standard: HKD 160
Concessions*: HKD 80
M+ Members’ Additional Ticket: HKD 112
M+ Patrons’ Additional Guest Ticket: HKD 80
Special Exhibitions Dual Pass
Standard: HKD 240
Concessions*: HKD 120
M+ Members: HKD 168
M+ Patrons’ Additional Guest: HKD 120
Members receive three Special Exhibition admission vouchers per year. Patrons enjoy year-round free admission to Special Exhibitions with up to three guests.
The first full-scale retrospective of Ieoh Ming Pei (1917–2019), I. M. Pei: Life Is Architecture properly appraises for the first time the work of one of the greatest architects of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Pei’s high-profile projects were realised over seven decades with an exceptionally wide geographic reach, including the National Gallery of Art East Building in Washington, D.C., modernisation of the Grand Louvre in Paris, Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, and Museum of Islamic Art in Doha. These iconic landmarks solidified Pei’s position in architectural history and popular culture. His life and work weave together a tapestry of power dynamics, geopolitical complexities, cultural traditions, and the character of cities around the world, and his transcultural vision laid a foundation for the contemporary world.
The exhibition takes an expanded and closer look at Pei’s practice through six themes representing areas of focus and approaches throughout his career: ‘Pei’s Cross-Cultural Foundations’, ‘Real Estate and Urban Redevelopment’, ‘Art and Civic Form’, ‘Power, Politics, and Patronage’, ‘Material and Structural Innovation’, and ‘Reinterpreting History through Design’. The themes place Pei’s practice in close dialogue with social, cultural, and biographical trajectories that show architecture and life to be inseparable. The exhibition features a rich selection of drawings, sketches, videos, models, photographs, and other archival documentation, many of which will be on view for the first time. To lend a contemporary lens to Pei’s work, the exhibition presents newly commissioned photographs of Pei’s buildings by a new generation of photographers: South Ho, Naho Kubota, Lee Kuo-min, Giovanna Silva, Mohamed Somji, Tian Fangfang, and Yoneda Tomoko. Architectural models of Pei’s built and unbuilt projects are also made in collaboration with architecture schools at The University of Hong Kong and The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Irving Penn. I. M. Pei, 1976. Vogue. © Condé Nast
Giovanna Silva. A bride’s photoshoot captured from Passage Richelieu at the Grand Louvre in Paris, 2021. Commissioned by M+, 2021. © Giovanna Silva.
Mohamed Somji. View of the faceted central structure of the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, 2022. Photo commissioned by M+, 2022. © Mohamed Somji.
I. M. Pei explaining his proposal for Oklahoma City’s new downtown to one of the ‘city fathers’, ca.1964. © The Oklahoman – USA TODAY NETWORK
Model of Fragrant Hill Hotel (1979–1982), Beijing, ca.1979. Paper and acrylic. Gift of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. Acquisition in progress. Photo: M+, Hong Kong, photographed with permission. © Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.
Helmut Jacoby (illustrator), I. M. Pei & Associates. Rendering of museum and public plaza, Everson Museum of Art (1961–1968), Syracuse, New York, ca.1961. Ink on paper. Photo: M+, Hong Kong, photographed with permission. © Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.
Irving Penn. I. M. Pei, 1976. Vogue. © Condé Nast
Giovanna Silva. A bride’s photoshoot captured from Passage Richelieu at the Grand Louvre in Paris, 2021. Commissioned by M+, 2021. © Giovanna Silva.
Mohamed Somji. View of the faceted central structure of the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, 2022. Photo commissioned by M+, 2022. © Mohamed Somji.
I. M. Pei explaining his proposal for Oklahoma City’s new downtown to one of the ‘city fathers’, ca.1964. © The Oklahoman – USA TODAY NETWORK
Model of Fragrant Hill Hotel (1979–1982), Beijing, ca.1979. Paper and acrylic. Gift of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. Acquisition in progress. Photo: M+, Hong Kong, photographed with permission. © Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.
Helmut Jacoby (illustrator), I. M. Pei & Associates. Rendering of museum and public plaza, Everson Museum of Art (1961–1968), Syracuse, New York, ca.1961. Ink on paper. Photo: M+, Hong Kong, photographed with permission. © Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.
Tickets
Tickets to I. M. Pei: Life Is Architecture include General Admission access. Children ages 6 and below do not need to purchase tickets.
A Special Exhibitions Dual Pass is available to visitors who wish to visit both special exhibitions—I.M. Pei: Life Is Architecture and Guo Pei: Fashioning Imagination—on the same day, in addition to all General Admission exhibitions.
A complimentary guided tour led by M+ Volunteer Guide is available for special exhibition ticket holders on a first-come, first-served basis.
Public
Standard: HKD 160
Concessions*: HKD 80
Dual Pass Standard: HKD 240
Dual Pass Concessions*: HKD 120
M+ Members
M+ Members enjoy three free admission vouchers for selected Special Exhibitions per membership year. M+ Members can also enjoy a 30% discount on additional tickets with unlimited quota. Discounted ticket holders must be accompanied by members.
Discounted Ticket: HKD 112
Discounted Dual Pass: HKD 168
Become an M+ Member, and enjoy exclusive benefits! Learn more.
M+ Patrons
M+ Patrons can enjoy unlimited free access to Special Exhibitions with up to three guests; and a 50% discount on additional guest tickets (unlimited quota). Discounted ticket holders must be accompanied by patrons.
Discounted Guest Ticket: HKD 80
Discounted Guest Dual Pass: HKD 120
Become an M+ Patron, and enjoy unlimited free admission all year-round with exclusive benefits! Learn more here about the admission privileges across the upper membership tiers.
*Concession tickets are available to full-time students, children ages 7 to 11, senior citizens ages 60 or above, persons with disabilities and companion, and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients.
Related Events
Image at top: Architect Ieoh Ming Pei, selected to design the JFK Memorial Library. © John Loengard / The LIFE Picture Collection / Shutterstock
M+ has made all attempts to locate the copyright owners of the images and videos in this exhibition. These materials have been used for non-commercial purposes related to the exhibition only.