This award to the 97-year-old architect will be presented in August this year at the next UIA Congress, which will be held in Durban. It will complement two other prestigious gold medals - the American and British Institutes of Architects (AIA and RIBA). Pei is also a Pritzker Prize and Praemium Imperiale laureate.
A jury of ISA officials led by its current president, French Albert Dubler, noted that “Pei's life and work has spanned contemporary architecture on five continents for more than 60 years. ISA so pays tribute to his unique style, his timeless rigor and his spiritual connection to history, time and space."
J. M. Pei was born in Guangzhou, studied in the United States (including with Walter Gropius), worked first as an architect for a large development company, and then in his own bureau. Among its buildings is the J. F. Kennedy Museum in Boston, the east wing of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Bank of China skyscraper in Hong Kong, the Louvre renovation, the Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar and many other buildings of various purposes and sizes.
Pei “retired” back in 1990, leaving the Pei Cobb Freed bureau he created, however, he cooperates with his sons and their bureau Pei Partnership Architects.
The ISA Gold Medal has been awarded every three years since 1984. Among the laureates are Charles Correa, Fumihiko Maki, Renzo Piano, Tadao Ando, Rafael Moneo.
