Educational Media Reviews Online

Already in his mid-80s, I.M. Pei accepted in 2001 a commission to build a new museum in the city where he had spent his childhood—his family’s ancestral home city, Suzhou, China. The museum would be located in a very old part of the city with buildings dating from the Ming dynasty. The challenge for Pei and the contribution that he believed he could make was to move toward a Chinese architecture engaged with tradition but melded with modern techniques and materials. This video loosely follows the design and planning of the museum and explores the problem of respecting the past while creating the modern.

The film records the annual progress on the project. Pei first visits the site before any planning has been done. We see the surrounding neighborhood, while Pei speaks of the need to find the spirit of the place. A year later we are in the offices of the Pei Partnership to see the model of the museum with visitors from Suzhou. They must approve the conceptual plan. The museum will be in the white and gray colors of the neighborhood, but the roof is too high—a violation of city code—and there is concern that it won’t be of the same material as surrounding roofs.

At the second year mark, Pei is back in Suzhou with the final models on display. Suzhou city officials are satisfied with the plans. We hear Pei and the mayor at the groundbreaking ceremony. At the third year mark, Pei goes to China to oversee construction. There are two challenges: the building itself and how to exhibit the museum’s holdings. In the fourth year a mockup of the museum’s rock garden is examined; Pei has it redesigned. In the fifth year of the project, Pei is again in China for the opening day of the museum. He says that he feels the building is a part of him, a biography, a physical expression of how he feels about the China he left.

Providing context for this museum project is commentary from architectural historian Charles Jencks and philosopher John Cobb, Jr., who has a broad knowledge of Asian culture. Both gentlemen offer additional insights in bonus features on the DVD. Pei himself puts the building into the context of his career, discussing the unfavorable early reaction to his Louvre addition and his incorporation of ideas from nature in his Bank of China in Hong Kong. He talks more about the Suzhou museum in the bonus section.

This film originally aired as part of the acclaimed PBS American Masters series. The sound and camera work are very good, as is the editing. There are English subtitles for the remarks of Chinese speakers. The film imparts a strong sense of both a person and a place, increasing the viewer’s understanding of each

If you’re looking for an overview of Pei’s work, this isn’t the video for you. However, it would be very useful in courses concentrating on Pei or Asian architecture. It would also be of value in Asian Studies courses looking at the transition from traditional society to the modern world. While advanced high school students might benefit from viewing this film, the more in-depth study of architecture or Asian Studies at the college level would provide a better background for getting the most out of the presentation.