I.M. Pei is a Chinese American Architect, born in Canton, China and raised in Hong Kong and Shanghai. At the age of 17 in 1935, Pei moved to the United States of America to study architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He felt the material and teaching standards were not up to par and instead spent his time studying upcoming architects like Le Corbusier. After graduating, he joined the Harvard Graduate School of Design and became friends with Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer. In the early 1980's he was the focus of controversy when he designed the glass and steel pyramid to sit in front of the Louvre. Many of his other projects have also stirred up social controversy because of his western ideology of geometry and applying them to projects in Europe and Asia.
The building I have chosen is the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, designed by Pei. It is easily one of the most recognizable skyscrapers in central Hong Kong. The structure is supposed to resemble growing bamboo shoots, which symbolize livelihood and prosperity. The structure is made up of five steel columns, 4 on each corner and one in the center. The facade is made up of curtain walls of steel and glass. There was high controversy involved in this building over that fact that it had bypassed the consulting of Feng Shui masters on matters of design prior to construction.
It has been critisized for it's shard edges, that resemble object meant for harm. Also, the geometry of Feng Shui is very important in a building. Shapes such as squares, circles and rectangles are commonly used to arrange space, while triangles and odd shaped are avoided because of imbalance and non-symmetry.
The square lot of the Bank of China was divided into triangles, and the facade is completely made of triangles. The public has cognitive feelings about the structure because of its accumulation of negative Qi. The building is believed to resemble a metal cleaver that is facing the Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation; a rival bank.
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