After the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the world turned against the city of Dallas, dubbing it the name “City of Hate”. Dallas became desperate and desperately needed to rebrand itself and believed this could be solved through architecture. In 1964, I.M. Pei was chosen to design the new Dallas City Hall. Due to space requirements from the Dallas government, Pei designed an inverted pyramid for the building. Not only did this solve the space issues, it provided a unique design to the building and helped provide shade. After fears that the building was too “top heavy”, Pei added 3 cylindrical pillars that gave the impression that they were holding up the building, when in reality they were just for show.

What is arguably one of the most famous buildings is the Louvre Pyramid in Paris, France, designed by I.M. Pei in 1989. I.M Pei had been personally asked by the French President to oversee this project. Taking the job from other french architects, he faced lots of backlash and once he unveiled the plans, the international response was not kind. The creation of the Louvre solved an issue of a mass amount visitors, thus causing a bottleneck caused by too much people. The Louvre distributes people in an effective way based off of a villa in Pompeii. There is an urban legend that the Louvre consists of 666 glass panes, referencing the number of the beast, or satan.

In 1986, I.M. Pei completed construction of Fountain Place in downtown Dallas. This was I.M. Pei and Partner’s first major project after leaving Disney and teaming up. The original concept was to have twin towers but the project was never completed. The building was named after the fountains at the base of the tower that had an autonomous water show in the center. The buildings unique slanted sides gives a unique view from all sides. The building has become a staple of downtown Dallas and is one of my personal favorites. On September 24, 2009 the FBI foiled a plan to bomb the skyscraper. As of 2019, construction is under way for the AMLI Fountain Place, which will fulfill the original plans of having a set of twin towers

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One of I.M Pei’s many feats includes the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art. One of the key challenges of this building was that they didn’t want to obstruct the view of the Cayuga Lake. The most noticeable feature is the 5th floor that towers over the garden on the ground floor. The 5th floor comes out horizontally as not to obstruct the natural views while also serving as a beautiful viewing area. The building was awarded the American Institute of Architects Honor Award in 1975. The building is used to house many different exhibits of art and is also sometimes used by Cornell University to aid in teaching courses.

In my home town of Rockwall, Texas there is a courthouse I pass by sometimes that I really enjoy the looks of. I’m very conflicted by this courthouse because the outside of it is beautiful but the inside seems like a really inefficient use of the space. The outside has these greek pillars and the building looks huge and very impressive. But once you come inside, the center of it is hollowed out and looks very nice but it seems like such a waste of space. The rooms are very small and it just seems like an overall mistake with designing the building. I really think that this courthouse is an interesting building but I can’t help but be annoyed by the inside and it’s waste of space.

While in Japan I was able to visit Tokyo Sky Tree. This happens to be one of my least favorite buildings because I’m afraid of heights and looking straight up at it from the bottom is enough to overwhelm you. I traveled to the observation floors of Tokyo Sky Tree through an elevator that can take you 350 meters in only 50 seconds. Being Japan’s tallest tower, you are able to see so much of the city from up top. On the second observation room, you are able to stand on a pane of glass on the floor that allows you to see directly underneath you. While the height of the tower and the amazing view from the tower were quite impressive, I don’t think I would ever go to the top again.

While studying abroad in Japan, I had the opportunity to visit Hiroshima. One of my favorite pieces of work there is the Children’s Peace Monument. It was originally created because Sadako Sasaki,  a child that had Leukemia and decided to pass the time by folding origami cranes. A Japanese legend says that whoever folds 1000 origami cranes will have their wish granted by the gods. Sadako’s wish was to have a world without nuclear weapons. This girl’s story became popular and she ended up passing away due to her leukemia. Children from across the nation held rallies and fundraisers to try and build a monument dedicated to all children lost from the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. On top of the monument stands Sadako Sasaki with a giant origami crane. Students from Hiroshima had a field trip to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and were able to visit the Children’s Peace Monument and hold a moment of silence and pray for all those affected by the Hiroshima bombing. I enjoy this monument because I think that this monument displays hope in achieving a world without nuclear weapons.

Last spring I studied abroad in Japan for the semester. I lived in the international dorm for Ritsumeikan University in Osaka, Japan. In Japan, most people live in apartments and there isn’t a lot of space allocated for rooms. Throughout the semester my room would get very cramped very easily because of how small it was compared to my room back home. My suitcases and backpack from home took up the majority of my room already so there was barely any space available. With the lack of space you could also decorate barely anything, leaving the room feeling more like a prison cell. Eventually I started stacking my excess things on top of my dresser to keep them out of the way. Staying there made me really appreciate my room back home and how to better manage my space effectively.