The story of internationally renowned architect I. M. Pei's life and work.I. M. Pei (1917 2019) was born in Ghougnzhou, raised in Shanghai and educated at Harvard. When he died, the New York writer and critic Paul Goldberger said it was the end of an architectural era'. And yet Pei one of the most prominent architects of the 20th century whose instantly recognisable buildings include the glass pyramid at the Louvre, Paris; the extension to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar; and the Bank of China tower, Hong Kong remains a remote figure in the architectural canon. Unlike most architectural monographs, I. M. Pei: Life Is Architecture goes beyond the usual building by-building mix of photographs and plans. Instead, the book is organized around six thematic chapters that deal with issues such as urban renewal, art and civic form, material and structural innovation, and power, politics and patronage. It also explores transcultural identity a significant issue that characterized Pei's unique practice, and which continues to resonate with the complexity and diversity that define architectural practice today. Through a narrative of hitherto unpublished archival material, new photography, specially commissioned essays, and brief commentaries by scholars, influential practitioners and Pei's closest collaborators, this book reveals the unknown Pei and tells the story of a master whose buildings dazzle the world.