Ieoh Ming Pei, a Chinese American, was a great modernist architect. Pei, originally from Suzhou, was born in Guangzhou on April 26, 1917, and spent his youth in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Later, he went to the US to study architecture. During his decades of architectural career, he produced more than 70 major works, including the famous glass pyramid of the Louvre in France, the Bank of China Tower (landmark building in Hong Kong), the East Wing of the Washington Art Museum in the United States and so on. Among his works, more that 50 won great awards, and Pei was recognized as a first-class architect in the world. On April 30, 2002, 85-year-old Pei was responsible for the design of the new building of Suzhou Museum.

Located in the west of Humble Administrator Garden, the new building of Suzhou Museum covers an area of 19,000 square meters with a total investment of 339 million yuan. It covers an area of 26,500 square meters if the new buildings and the Prince Zhong’s Mansion are included.

As a showcase of the long history, cultural heritage and modern architectural achievements of Suzhou, the new building of Suzhou Museum inherits and innovatively adopts the design concept of “new Chinese and Su style”, and pursues the principle of “harmony, moderation, not high, not large and not abrupt”.

The new Suzhou Museum designed by Pei has four highlights. The first is the natural integration of the architectural shape and the environment; the second is the unique spatial arrangement; the third is the exquisite materials; and the fourth is the maximum natural light introducing into the interior. Pei once said that the new construction of the Suzhou Museum was much more difficult than any other architectural design he had done abroad.

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www.szmuseum.com