American - Architect | April 26, 1917 -
In northern architecture - the cathedrals of Europe and all the little churches - the details, the carving of stone, become necessary because the light is not there to help you very much. You have to enrich surfaces. The desert reduces form to its simplest nature. There is no need for gargoyles or flying buttresses in the desert.
I. M. Pei
NatureLightArchitectureFlyingYou
The Pyramids are perfect, but you can't put the Pyramids in the middle of Manhattan. In the desert, the combination of light and form makes it perfect.
LightDesertYouPerfectMiddle
The essence of architecture is form and space, and light is the essential element to the key to architectural design, probably more important than anything. Technology and materials are secondary.
TechnologyLightArchitectureSpace
The Louvre for me is a wonderful experience. Because it continues; it didn't get cut off. It was actually a continuous involvement all the way, and a lot of people have come and gone, come and gone; but I'm still here.
ExperiencePeopleMeWayGoneHere
To me, form doesn't always follow function. Form has a life of its own, and at times, it may be the motivating force in design. When you're dealing with form as a sculptor, you feel that you are quite free in attempting to mould and shape things you want to do, but in architecture, it's much more difficult because it has to have a function.
LifeArchitectureMeFreeDesign
Modern architecture needed to be part of an evolutionary, not a revolutionary, process.
ArchitectureProcessModernPart
We had a lot of difficulty in getting the French to accept the pyramid. They thought we were trying to import a piece of Egypt until I pointed out that their obelisk was also from Egypt and the Place des Pyramides is around the corner. Then they accepted it. The pyramid at the Louvre, though, is just the tip.
ThoughtTryingPlaceAcceptEgypt
A lasting architecture has to have roots.
ArchitectureRootsLasting
It is good to learn from the ancients. I'm a bit of an ancient myself. They had a lot of time to think about architecture and landscape.
GoodTimeMyselfArchitectureThink
Architecture must not do violence to space or its neighbors.
ArchitectureSpaceViolenceNeighbors
A city, far from being a cluster of buildings, is actually a sequence of spaces enclosed and defined by buildings.
CityBuildingsBeingFarSpaces
I liked the America of Bing Crosby, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton - it was all a dream, of course, but a very alluring dream for a young man from Canton.
ManAmericaDreamYoungYoung Man
Copyright © 2024 QuotesDict I. M. Pei quotes