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Architecture Quote by I. M. Pei

“I believe that architecture is a pragmatic art. To become art it must be built on a foundation of necessity.” quote by I. M. Pei — Download Open image

“I believe that architecture is a pragmatic art. To become art it must be built on a foundation of necessity.”

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More by I. M. Pei

My projects have typically taken a long time to complete. Buildings might take on average about five to seven years to finish, but in…

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When I got the opportunity to do the new wing [the Schauhaus] for the German Historical Museum, for instance, I didn't see it as an opportunity for my own ego, to do something so exciting that every architectural publication would want to put it on the cover. I accepted it because I knew it was going to be a very…

Let's do it right. This is for the ages.

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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 didn't want to think about a project that I couldn't finish. That's a kind of temptation. One has to realize one's limitations. Why…

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Contemporary architects tend to impose modernity on something. There is a certain concern for history but it’s not very deep. I understand that time…

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You cannot defend your design without knowing what you're designing for.

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I was born in Suzhou, a city not very far from Shanghai. It's a very interesting town - there is a long artist's tradition…

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Architecture is the very mirror of life.You only have to cast your eyes on buildings to feel the presence of the past, the spirit…

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Great artists need great clients.

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I've been active all my life. In 1990 I retired from my firm, I.M. Pei & Partners, and for two years I didn't do…

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At home, I have a wife, fortunately, and my children are all grown, and I have many grandchildren. I spend weekends with my grandchildren;…

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Explore all 30 I. M. Pei quotes

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A man walks down the street. It's a street in a strange world. Maybe it's the third world. Maybe it's his first time around. He doesn't speak the language. He holds no currency. He is a foreign man. He is surrounded by the sound, sound of cattle in the marketplace, scatterlings and orphanages. He looks around, around he sees angels…

The Parthenon is really only a farmyard over which someone put a roof; colonades and sculptures were added because there were people in Athens…

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I just think structure can make a book feel so much bigger. It's the architecture. You could use flimsy materials if you wanted to,…

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When I am asked what I believe in, I say that I believe in architecture. Architecture is the mother of the arts. I like…

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Some architects have a preconceived notion of what a building should be

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The essential functions of the mind consist in understanding and in inventing, in other words, in building up structures by structuring reality.

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London, from the architecture to the culture to the fashion to the accents, feels like it's a special place.

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A wiki works best where you're trying to answer a question that you can't easily pose, where there's not a natural structure that's known…

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Architecture is not a profession for the faint-hearted, the weak-willed, or the short-lived.

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As a result of reading science fiction when I was eight, I grew up with an interest in music, architecture, city planning, transportation, politics,…

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