i. m. pei / bank of china, hong kong .......................................................................................................................................................................................
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i. m. pei / bank of china, hong kong pei had to grapple with 'feng shui' when he designed the bank of china tower in hong kong in 1982. the term means 'wind and water' and 'it has its roots in the worship of the forces of nature, which sometimes degenerated into a form of superstition. when you design buildings in hong kong, you cannot get away from that problem. there are specialists, feng shui masters, who advise people on all matters of things, especially on the selection of a building site; placement of the building on the site; and the shape and form of the building. I was aware of this, but did not take it seriously. As soon as we made our design public, I was immediately attacked - just as fiercely as I was attacked for the louvre, but for different reasons. for instance,...(the) building had too many sharp corners (which would) bring bad luck to one's neighbours.' but the real challenge for pei was architectural. the building was placed on a incredibly small and difficult site , 'surrounded by a heavily trafficked roadway...there was no possibility to make an entrance...(so) I proposed to create a new road at the back of our site. (but) the site had one important advantage. because it was located just out of the airport flight path, the new building was not restricted by the height limit... a tall building would permit us to overlook some of the most prestigious buildings in hong kong... the next challenge was...how to make it structurally expressive.' (quotations from 'conversations with i.m.pei' all photos courtesy prestell verlag)	bank of china, hong kong
i. m. pei demonstrating how the bank of china, hong kong, is joined together in three dimensions
this is 1 of 6 pages on i.m.pei, click on the icons to see more the designboom review on the book 'conversations with i.m.pei', prestel verlag the east wing of the national gallery in washington the bank of china the miho museum in shiga the grand louvre in paris the biography of i. m. pei --- see also --- http://www.GreatBuildings.com/buildings/Bank_of_China.html
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