BIZ TALK CEO INTERVIEW:

Li Chung (L.C.) Pei, Founding Partner, Pei Partnership Architects

L.C. Pei is Founding Partner, with Chien Chung Pei, of New York-based Pei Partnership Architects. The two sons of celebrated Guangzhou-born architect I.M. Pei – most famous for grafting a glass pyramid onto the Louvre in Paris – worked with their father to create two contrasting buildings in greater China: the old-but-new Suzhou Museum and the modern Macao Science Center. Pei Partnership is also working on the Chengdu Museum, Shanghai’s Peace Hotel, Shenzhen Cyber City, Bank of China HQ in Beijing and the Golden Beach Resort in Qingdao.

Man-made architecture and the natural garden are one entity in China, I.M. Pei has said, but adapting this precept to a grey and white yesteryear-meets-tomorrow Suzhou landmark was tough because, he admitted, “No-one knew how to do it.” 
The resulting USD40m Suzhou Museum opened in October 2006. Sleek, white and angular, it is destined to become one of China’s most visited – and photographed – works of contemporary architectural art (click here to see our article at: www.urbanatomy.com).

The 20,000 square metre Macao Science Center offers a contrasting premise. Built on a reclaimed waterfront promontory, it comprises “a tilted cone, a dome and a low rhomboid articulate sheathed in shimmering metal as its two basic programmatic components.” Beyond the geometry, it combines a conference centre, 15 galleries, a planetarium, multifunction hall and an observation deck 26 metres above the building with 180-degree views of Taipa Island. 

The Macao Science Center is a complex building. What inspired the design?

L.C. Pei: The Macao Science Center is indeed a very complex design, but one that responds to several important challenges. Foremost, as a building that will present science in its myriad dimensions to a broad audience, we wanted to depart from the windowless boxes constructed in congested urban environments to explore a more exciting form that would exploit both programme and site to the greatest extent possible. The underlying goal was to orchestrate an interesting, and continually changing, passage for visitors not only to sustain interest when they come, but also to encourage multiple visits.

How do the multiple functions and components work together?

L.C. Pei: The building has its own educational, didactic role to play and such wonderful elements as exhibition space, a planetarium and multi-function room were too rich in possibilities not to take advantage of in form and layout. As you will see, each of these areas is distinct and separated, and reached through an enjoyable route interspersed throughout by views of water, landscape and sky. This connection to site was deliberate and is a way of overcoming museum 'fatigue' while reminding the public of the direct relationship of science and its discoveries to the real world.

When will it open to the public?

L.C. Pei: The project is rising fast and the forms are becoming clearer every day. The completion is a little more than a year away and hopefully will be among the crowning achievements of Chief Executive Edmund Ho, whose term expires in 2009. So there will be much to celebrate, and I am very excited,

The Suzhou Museum is respectful to, yet plays with, Suzhou’s architectural heritage. Was that the objective?

L.C. Pei: The Suzhou Museum emerged from an entirely different set of circumstances, and could not represent a greater dichotomy posed by a country confronting the modern world through the lens of history. The city of Suzhou has its roots in the Ming Dynasty, and it is during this period that some of China's greatest artistic achievements took place. However, a respect for these accomplishments and the desire to preserve the historic context could not be approached slavishly; instead our approach - and in this case I need to underscore my father's persistent emphasis - was to distill and recast not just the elements of its architecture, but also to evoke the qualities of living that reached a high mark during this period.

How did you seek to achieve this melding of past and present?

L.C. Pei: The sense of serenity in the use of materials, the sound of water, of footsteps on stone and gravel, sunlight and shadow, of nature. These are all elements of architecture that were not ignored here. In the end, the success will be measured by the response of those who come – and, thus far, the signs are good.

Photo Credits:
Macao Science Center: Pei Partnership Architects with I.M. Pei Architects
Suzhou Museum: I.M. Pei Architect with Pei Partnership Architects